Lifting the Dream
by HawkofNavarre
Summary: Post chapter 698. Maybe there really was a happy ending after all. [Team 7 centric. NaruSaku]
1. Part I

Disclaimer: I'm very glad I don't own Naruto right now. Why yes, I would like salt on my salad! Thank you very much!

 **Story notes:** As written, this story is **Team 7 centric** , but there are certainly scenes with the other teams. **The only romantic pairing in this fic is NaruSaku** and it will be _prominent._ This story will primarily focus on character development, relationship development (mostly between Team 7), and their futures. Also NaruSaku. Why you ask? Because NaruSaku is important. Characters may also become self-aware. And last, but not least, please note that **chapter 699 and 700 do not exist in this story.**

Updates will be slow, but I guarantee a finished product. Bear with me! Also big thank you to my Chief Beta Reader Extraordinaire, **Irradiance!**

This directly follows the ending of chapter 698.

* * *

 _ **Lifting the Dream**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Part I of III**

 _ **"I started...to see Team 7 somewhat like my family..."**_

* * *

Somehow, Sakura could feel in her soul that it was over. The fighting had gone on for far too long and everything suddenly just seemed silent.

She supported Kakashi with her shoulders as they slowly made their way to the Valley of the End. She wasn't sure how long they had been walking, but it had definitely been a long time. All she could think about was whether or not they were okay. _"If we fight again, we're both going to die,"_ Sakura remembered Naruto's chilling words. And they had fought again. Once again, they'd left her behind and all she could do was hope they were okay.

She was sick of being left behind.

Her heart clenched painfully when she thought of Sasuke. She had tried _so hard_ to get through to him, and in the end, all that resulted was him inflicting a cruel genjutsu on her. Kakashi had told her it was because Sasuke hadn't wanted her to follow them, and in truth, had she not been knocked out, she would have. She cared about him too much not to. She cared about Naruto too much not to.

In reality, Sakura wasn't really sure what else she should have expected. The only one who could ever get through to Sasuke was Naruto himself. Sasuke hadn't cared much for her throughout the entire war, but he worked so freely with Naruto. Maybe she deserved it, being just another person who gave up on Sasuke, but even she had a limit on giving second chances. She really had lost faith that he would find his way back to a lighter path. She had given up on him. Naruto hadn't.

"Is that…?"

Sakura's head snapped up as she heard Kakashi's voice, glancing forward for a second before she lost her breath entirely. There in the distance were Naruto and Sasuke lying side by side in _a lot_ of blood.

"Go help them," Kakashi told her, pulling his arm away from her with a smile from underneath his mask. "I'll be fine. They probably need you more than I do right now."

She nodded. "Take it _slowly_ , Kakashi-sensei," she commanded him in her best medic-nin tone, then rushed off to go meet her battered teammates.

Everything felt like it was getting heavier as she moved closer to them. She felt even worse when she realized that Naruto was missing half of his right arm and Sasuke his left. The tears started again, wondering how long they had been lying there for after what they'd done to each other. She hadn't been able to stop them. All she could ever do were the smallest things.

Sakura knelt down between them as soon as she reached the two boys, placing her hands over the stumps of their limbs and pumping chakra in to stop the bleeding. Even without a thorough examination, she could already tell from her chakra's entry point that both of them had several internal injuries and more than a few fractured bones. Both of them were also suffering from chakra exhaustion, but they'd be fine once she was done with them.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto rasped out, beaming at her with one purple, swollen half-shut eye.

"Sa…kura…" Sasuke echoed her name and she almost flinched. After being so disrespected by him the last time she'd seen him, it was difficult to figure out how she should react to him.

She ignored both of them instead, concentrating on her task. Things were too complicated right now and the swirl of emotion within her couldn't be trusted not to come out of her mouth. She was already crying enough anyway.

"I'm…sorry…" he continued, and Sakura almost halted her chakra flow. Those…were certainly words she'd never thought she would hear come from Sasuke.

"Sorry for _what?_ " Sakura asked heatedly, her words half strangled by her throat. If he was going to apologize to her after everything that had happened, she was going to make him do it properly. She wanted to hear him acknowledge all the horrible things he'd done since he left, acknowledge how much he had hurt her if he even cared enough to do it.

"Everything…"

She bit her lip. That was as proper as it was going to get and she knew it. That idiot was lucky she had a soft spot for him. Still, it didn't excuse the fact that both he and Naruto were lying here in a pool of their own blood. Sakura knew they were going to live, which was a relief, but she was also majorly pissed off at both of them for running off without her in order to beat the shit out of each other. She understood that they shared a familial bond that nobody else could fully comprehend because of their pasts and their journeys, but she was the one dealing with the fallout. What if they'd both killed each other this time, like Naruto had suggested? Was she just supposed to be okay with everything now that they'd gotten everything out of their systems? If she hadn't loved Sasuke so much, hadn't gotten Naruto to make that promise, she wouldn't even be a part of this screwed up team relationship. She would've just been another bystander, watching these brothers fight until they were done.

Their arms had stopped bleeding, so Sakura moved her hands over their chests, fixing broken ribs before she mended any damage to their lungs. The rest of their internal organs came next, then fractures to the bones. By the time she was finished with them, only their more superficial wounds remained and she stood up from her spot.

Naruto stood up slowly, grinning at her. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

Sasuke was quick to follow as he got to his feet. "Sakura…"

Sakura glanced at him sharply. Just because she had a soft spot for him didn't mean she wasn't still livid. He'd still done a hell of a lot of damage without any regard to her feelings or anyone else's.

It was good a thing she'd just healed him.

"Sasuke-kun," she said shortly in return, then pulled her arm back and threw all her pent up frustration, angst and anger into her fist against the side of his face.

There was no chakra enhancement in her strike, but the pure strength and emotion that she'd put into it still knocked him off balance, sending him stumbling back a few feet. Sasuke looked at her, wide-eyed and stunned, and suddenly Sakura felt _a lot_ better. The best she had ever gotten out of him was a very minor sentiment. He'd always presented with annoyance or indifference when she was around, even if he'd thought of her as a friend. The fact that her fist had been able to elicit something different was extremely satisfying.

" _That_ was for everything you put us through," Sakura stated, gesturing to an equally as shocked-looking Naruto. "But…I accept your apology. As long as you mean it, but don't think this means all is magically forgiven."

Sasuke nodded briefly as he cupped his now doubly bruised cheek, still dumbfounded.

Then she whirled on Naruto. "And _you._ " She stalked up to his terrified form and jabbed him in the chest none too lightly with her finger. "Always recklessly doing what you want, and then smiling like an idiot when it's all over even when you're lying half-dead on the ground! We were supposed to save Sasuke-kun _together,_ but _no_. When I get knocked out, all you do is take off on your own with him, get the crap beaten out of you—"

"Sakura-chan, we were both—"

"—and then get your arm blown up! Idiot! You're an idiot!" She paused in her tirade, throwing her hands up in exasperation and sighing loudly. Sakura shook her head, then pulled Naruto and the nearby Sasuke into a hug with either arm. "You're both idiots, but I'm glad you're okay…"

They stayed like that for a while without a sound. No matter how furious she was about being left behind by these two, or their tendency to settle everything with ninjutsu and fists, she loved them so much. Their limited time together as an actual team had been binding, and she could still feel it four years later—even if she wanted to plant both of these guys in the ground right about now.

"You two saved all of us. Thank you," Sakura spoke quietly.

"Ne, we couldn't have done it without you, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied as his hand settled on her back, "right, bastard?"

She thought she heard a grunt of response from Sasuke, but was interrupted by another hand on her shoulder. The three separated and she turned to look at her exhausted teacher who had finally made it down to them with a relieved expression.

"Not to mention you two wouldn't even be alive without Sakura's medical skills," Kakashi commented airily before smiling. "Now, why wasn't I included in that group hug?"

Naruto's loud whine of " _You're late, Kakashi-sensei!_ " seemed to comfort everyone as a smile made its way up her face too. Even Sasuke had a hint of a smile at his lips. For the first time in years, they were standing around casually joking as if they were meeting up for a mission as genin again. Sakura remembered all those nights she had sit on her bed, staring at the photo of the four of them. She'd cried a lot when she caught so much as a glance at it the nights after Sasuke's departure, but it had eventually faded into a dull pain in her heart. She'd stared at that photo night after night, hoping her broken team would look like that photo again one day. Today, it did. The original Team 7 was together again.

* * *

By the time they got back to where most of the war veterans were, many people had more or less released themselves from the confines of their dream cocoons, or whatever they were. There were still quite a few trapped high in the branches of the tree, but those who were free were helping to get others out. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if there were many who were disappointed about being woken. Certainly, everyone seemed to have known that they were fighting for freedom, but seeing your own perfect world could have a relatively strong impact on some. There was no doubt he would have rather lived in a dream world the night after Itachi slaughtered their clan. He was older now, and old enough to know that even if the world was rife with flaws, he'd rather work on the real one than pretend it didn't exist. It wasn't all bad. He had a family that accepted him for all his sins to prove that.

"Sasuke!"

A feminine voice caught his attention, but the person was already rubbing up against his arm before he even had a chance to look. Not that he didn't know exactly who it was. He'd been around his own self-recruited team long enough to know who it was.

"Karin," he greeted her with a nod, more than used to her tendency to invade his personal space. The rest of Team 7 had pulled ahead of him to go help others in the alliance.

Jūgo and Suigetsu both approached behind her as she gave him a once over. "You're okay! But you're pretty low on chakra. And what happened to your face? And your _arm?_ " she rambled worriedly as she offered him her arm to which he shook his head. Karin stepped a little further back, smiling. "You were the one who saved us, weren't you? You're the only one strong enough. I know it."

Sasuke shrugged. "Me and Naruto."

"That's cool an' all, but I'm outta here," Suigetsu cut in loudly, his arms crossed and a bored expression on his face. "Orochimaru left as soon as he woke up and nobody had enough energy to bother stopping 'im. He was the smart one. I wouldn't even still be here if it weren't for this dumb broad's loud demands."

" _EXCUSE ME?_ "

Really, the feud between Suigetsu and Karin would never end, but the important part of this conversation was that Suigetsu was leaving. It didn't surprise Sasuke, considering how he had recruited Suigetsu in the first place. The guy didn't exactly like taking orders, and with neither Orochimaru or Sasuke giving him a reason to stay, he was free to do as he liked.

"We'll be enemies if we ever meet again," Sasuke stated.

Suigetsu grinned and a brief look of mutual understanding passed between the two. They had not become friends by any means, but there was a respect for each others' strength and the appreciation of being once teammates. "Heh. Wouldn't have it any other way."

He flicked a hand of farewell at Jūgo and Karin. "Well, see ya, psycho. Psycho bitch."

" _WHY YOU—_ "

Karin punched his face one last time, only to get splattered with water before Suigetsu took off quickly. Sasuke was actually rather amused by how Team Taka had actually turned out. They were literally a bunch of Orochimaru's experimental subjects, but they had managed to somehow be a cohesive team when it came down to it.

"You're really just going to let him go?" Karin asked a little stubbornly.

Sasuke shifted to look at her. "I'm going back to Konoha." He drew shocked faces with _that_ statement. "The number of people he's killed is more than his participation in the war will allow the village leaders to overlook."

"And yours isn't?" Jūgo questioned him. It was not an attack, but a serious question.

"I've tried doing things my way already," he answered calmly. This was something he had been thinking about ever since he and Naruto had been lying there on the ground together. He had gained power and killed Danzo by doing things his own way, but he hadn't been happy. Making himself some evil overlord wasn't going to stop the children who grew up without families from being consumed by hatred and turning out just as he had. They needed support, guidance, _love._ They needed someone like Naruto was to him. Dirty politics was one thing, but this was something else entirely. "If I want to change things, I need to do this right, and if that means dealing with the consequences of my actions, then that's what I'll do."

"Sasuke..." Karin started, looking at him in awe. "You've really matured..."

"Besides, Suigetsu's goals have nothing to do with me," Sasuke noted. He couldn't really say he was going to miss Suigetsu, but Team Taka had been a rather significant part in his life. So while he wouldn't miss Suigetsu, he wouldn't forget him either. It was probably the same the other way around. It wasn't as if the swordsman had ever liked following his lead. "We don't have anything to gain by working together anymore. We're better off this way.

"Anyway, you know what my plans are. Orochimaru's fled and I'm no longer head of Taka. You're free to do what you want," he told them.

"I go where you go. You're Kimimaro's legacy and I believe that now more than ever," Jūgo answered without a second thought.

"You know I'll follow you wherever you go, Sasuke," Karin announced, nose in the air as she looked at him haughtily despite the blush on her face. "You're hopeless. You'd be dead a hundred times over without me."

He nodded at her, acknowledging her words. A huge part of the reason he had recruited both Jūgo and Karin was because he had known that their particular set of skills would help him in his quest for revenge. Admittedly, he did feel quite a ways more amicable towards them than the bloodthirsty Suigetsu and might even be able to call them friends. Karin, especially, was right. She, along with Jūgo and Suigetsu, really had saved his life several times.

"B-but you only get one more chance with me, just so you know! So you'd better use it right!" the redhead declared indignantly, face still flushed.

A smirk made its way onto his mouth. Really, the women in his life cared about him far too much. He didn't get it. He still didn't get it. But for a day like this to come and still have them care about him, he felt lucky. Sasuke was an intelligent person and he knew that people rarely got second chances like these. It was time to appreciate that after all he had done, there were still people in his life who were willing to stand by his side and support him.

"Thanks, Karin," he said as the sides of his mouth upturned just a little. "Thanks, Jūgo."

* * *

"Of course you would be the one to pull through," was the Kazekage's greeting. The smile on his face was as exhausted as Naruto felt.

"Heh, well, it was nothing," Naruto responded as he scratched back of his head, grinning. Sakura had gone off to help anyone who needed healing and they'd lost Sasuke in the crowd even before that. Naruto himself was too tired and too deprived of chakra to help anyone recover at this point. Kurama was quiet within him, sleeping off his own chakra exhaustion.

"In any case, I'm relieved to see you're alright. Then again, after seeing you come back from the brink of death, I probably shouldn't have expected any different," Gaara told him as they both gazed out into the crowd of survivors.

"Haha, yeah... Thanks for keeping me alive, by the way," he said sheepishly. Naruto still had no idea how long he was technically dead for. His chat with the Sage of the Six Paths hadn't exactly been short, and there was a big blank space in for him in what had occurred between him "dying" and him waking up.

Gaara shook his head. "No, I couldn't do a thing to keep you alive. All I did was bring you to the people who could."

"Madara took Kurama's Yang portion from me," the sage replied thoughtfully. "How did I even survive...?"

"You have some very dedicated friends, Naruto," Gaara answered. "Sakura-san took it upon herself to manually keep your heart going and be the one to breathe for you."

"Wha...?"

The Kazekage chuckled. "She was pumping your heart with her hand and giving you mouth-to-mouth."

Even _he_ wasn't thick enough to misunderstand that sentence. His jaw dropped and he just sort of stood there, staring at his friend in a mixture of disbelief and denial. Part of him (probably most of him, actually) wanted to scream out in celebration at even the _thought_ of Sakura's lips touching his, although the gesture wasn't remotely romantic and the motive was completely pure. The other part of him was in just in absolute admiration for her skills, touched by how far she had been willing to go to save his life. Another part of him came to the sudden realization of how close to death he had been. That she had literally been holding his heart in her hands to keep him alive was a boggling thought.

"If she ever gets tired of Konoha, please let her know that Suna will fully welcome her expertise," Gaara half-joked as he leaned back on his gourd.

"What? No way! You can't have Sakura-chan!" Naruto denied him vehemently.

The Kazekage just laughed quietly as Naruto sulked. He knew he was probably taking Gaara's joke too seriously, but Sakura was a special person in his life and he couldn't help being a little overprotective of her. Besides, Team 7 had just been reunited. There were things that need to be said—confessions...that needed to be made.

"I assume the memorial will be held soon, once everyone has been gathered and any cases in need of dire medical attention are taken care of. As the Kazekage, I'll be busy. You'll go back to Konoha and I'll be back in Suna and we won't see each other for a while," Gaara told him, his demeanour becoming serious. "I just want to say...thank you."

Naruto blinked, feeling slightly awkward. First Sakura and now Gaara? Gratitude was nice, but he didn't want people to be thanking him all the time for saving their lives and freedom, especially from his best friends. "I was, uh, just doing what I could to make things right."

"No, Naruto," Gaara brushed off his reply, "thank you for being the person you are. You might not know it, but everyone you come across, _everyone_ , is inspired by you. When you defeated me, you changed me for the better. You've changed a lot of other people too, and now you've saved everyone by just being _you_." He smiled, letting out a breath. "That I got to have a friend like you, Naruto...I feel fortunate."

Slowly, Naruto grinned. Gaara was the one saying he was grateful, but he had no idea how grateful Naruto felt having this particular fellow jinchuuriki as a friend. Sasuke was like a brother to him, but it was Gaara whose circumstances had been similar to his own. While he might have been part of the reason the Kazekage had changed, Gaara had evolved into an amazing leader on his own. He'd been such a spiteful person and instead became someone full of compassion who was respected by all the citizens of Suna. _He_ was the inspirational one. "Hey, I'd be dead if it weren't for you, so I must be pretty lucky too."

Temari called out for her brother nearby, signalling the need for Suna's Kazekage just as Gaara had predicted. The youngest Sand Sibling strapped his gourd onto his back with a smile and a nod. "I expect to see you at the Kage Summit in a few years."

"You will," Naruto declared, nodding back with a determined smirk on his face. "Believe it."

* * *

Ino was in pain.

She'd been numb back when the alliance had gathered for the memorial, too relieved to be alive and awake from an illusion of what she thought she wanted. It had been short enough that she hadn't needed to think about what it all meant and she was glad for it.

Until now.

It was probably meant to happen because she had kept it inside for the most part, but the second memorial in Konoha definitely hit her far worse than the first. As soon as she had heard her father's name mentioned amongst those who had fallen in the war, mentioned amongst those who were to be held in only the highest of honour, she felt her legs grow weak and she collapsed to the ground cradling herself. She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.

And then there was someone next to her, holding her while he cried too. And then there was another person behind them, holding both of them. Shikamaru. Chouji. Team 10 was here to share her pain and she was so grateful.

They stayed like that for a while, until her sobs had died down to soft shudders of erratic breathing. Shikamaru shared the same loss she did, but he seemed to be handling himself far better than she. He was calm while she shook and Chouji was their rock.

"Those two..." a masculine voice started, and Ino looked up through her tears to see Chouza standing next to them, "they were kind of assholes, leaving me behind like this. How rude."

"Dad..." Chouji said quietly. Ino already knew he wasn't going to say anything to her or any of them in an attempt of consolation, because he didn't know what this was like and frankly, it wouldn't matter what he said. There was no changing what happened or words that would heal them. She and Shikamaru had lost their fathers and Chouza had lost his best friends.

"Shikamaru, how's your mother holding up?" Chouza asked, his voice gruff and masking whatever emotions he was feeling right now.

Shikamaru leaned back on his hands, pulling a bit away from their little Team 10 heap on the ground. "She's breaking things."

Ino managed a small smile at this. Nara Yoshino had a rather volatile temper, and it only made sense that she would find solace by wrecking things in her grief.

"Yours, Ino?"

Her face fell again, wrapping her arms around her knees as she brought them in against her chest. "She cried herself to sleep last night. When I left this morning, she'd finished making a dozen flower arrangements."

She lifted her head slowly, unsure of whether or not she wanted to see Chouza's reaction. There wasn't really enough time to work up some sort of courage to do it, but looking up had been a decision on its own and one that she had made fast enough that she hadn't needed to think about it. The expression on his face was pained, but unlike Shikamaru and herself, he did not cry. Ino wondered if he pitied them, the suffering families that his best friends had left behind.

"I...see..." Chouza ground out. He swallowed and let out a breath, and Ino could only assume that the tension he was feeling was as bad as her own. "You make sure you tell them...the Akimichi clan will do anything possible to support them. Our family...will do anything we can."

Shikamaru gave the barest of nods, but Ino could only stare at the ground. The Akimichi clan leader bent down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Ino, and you too, Shikamaru, I want to let you both know... I may not be as wise as Shikaku, or as understanding and compassionate as Inoichi, but I am a father. If there's anything you need, you can come to me."

Ino turned and launched herself at Chouza, sobbing and hugging him tightly. There were no words that could express how she was feeling right now. He had given them the most touching gesture anyone could possibly offer and although that did nothing to ease her anguish, knowing there was someone who was willing to give her the fatherly support Inoichi once had was heart-warming. She had known Chouza for as long as she had known Chouji when he'd introduced them all those years ago and he had always been good to her.

Eventually, she allowed Chouza to pull away and Shikamaru let out a very hoarse-sounding "thank you" as Chouji put his arm around his best friend's shoulder.

"I'm going to stop by to see your mothers now. You two...try not to stay out too late, alright?" Chouza said gruffly.

Ino knew well enough that this was more than a suggestion. They were seventeen and battle-hardened enough to be considered adults even at such a young age, and despite his offer to come to him for any fatherly advice, there was only so much he could do for them. It was an important recommendation and she could read between the lines. _Please don't leave your mother alone._

"We won't," Shikamaru responded for them, the genius clearly quicker at deciphering the message than she was.

He waved a farewell and a minute later, the last member of the former InoShikaChou trio was only a speck in the distance. Ino was still on the ground, standing reluctantly as she looked off at the rows and rows of headstones behind the new memorial stone. Not all the bodies had been recovered from the war and all were given a peaceful burial at the site of the battle, but having a place for people in the village to go to seemed to be comforting for anyone who had lost a family member in the war.

"Do you...want to go visit them?" she asked her two teammates as she clutched her arm. She wanted to go stand by her father's headstone, but didn't want to go alone or admit that out loud. Shikamaru and Chouji both seemed to understand and gave a her a nod to the affirmative.

Finding them had taken longer than expected. There were so many people who had died and as they walked down rows upon rows in search of a couple names, the difficulty seemed like a grim reminder of everything that had been lost. After some time, they found that the headstones had been placed side by side and Ino was glad that her father was being honoured beside one of his best friends.

Shikamaru stood in front of his father's headstone while Ino stood in front of her own, Chouji standing back shortly between them. In the silence, she reflected back on the last words her father had said to her during the war. He'd told her that he was proud of her, and in truth, she was also proud of herself. To be able to do a technique that even her own amazing father had taken years longer to achieve made her feel accomplished, and it was even better that Inoichi would've been more than ecstatic. It was what he had said afterwards that was bothering her.

 _"Don't lose to Sakura in love._ " Those had been his words, and while Ino wasn't immature enough to think that the two of them were still competing over Sasuke, what she had been dreaming of when she was stuck in the Infinite Tsukuyomi was a source of shame for her. Had she really been wishing for love so much that a happy life to her was two boys she liked fighting over her? How could she be dreaming about such a thing, even if her dad had been with her?

It seemed so ridiculous and she was continually asking herself if she had actually dreamt that. Yes, she did want to fall in love with someone who loved her in return, and yes, she did enjoy attention, especially from attractive men—even better if she was kind of in love with one of them—but that wasn't just who she was. She was stronger than that. She was _better_ than that, but now that she was thinking about it, she really _hadn't_ found a dream since her childhood. Because of her friends and comrades, she had always resolved to become a stronger kunoichi, but when had she stopped dreaming about love?

When it came down to it, she really hadn't. The world had been calm for a bit and then a complete mess for the next two years. When things were quiet, Ino had been content to make wishes on love, but in between the calm and the fighting, there hadn't been time for her to think about what she really wanted for herself out of life. Love was one thing, definitely, but it wasn't everything.

Quietly, Ino resolved to find a new goal in life. Having love solely on the mind was something her twelve-year-old self would've done. She wasn't a kid anymore. She wanted something big for herself that had nothing to do with dating and marriage.

"It's a nice day. Should we go cloud watching?" Ino suggested abruptly, turning her head to look at her trio counterparts.

" _You_ want to go _cloud watching?_ " Chouji asked in disbelief with the nearby Shikamaru echoing similar sentiments.

"I could use some time to think," she explained coolly, going back to the former fire she was so used to emitting. She'd always be mourning her daddy, but right now, she was going on the premise that an upbeat attitude would help her feel better faster. "We can go for barbeque after."

At the mention of barbeque, Chouji looked at Shikamaru with such pleading eyes that it would unsettle anyone who didn't know the large shinobi.

"Yeah, I guess we could do that," Shikamaru sighed, though the smile on his face betrayed the tone of his voice.

As they walked off, Ino briefly smirked at the sky. She was going to make her dad so proud that he'd piss off Shikaku with all his bragging of her. That was the kind of woman she was going to be.

* * *

So...a grave. A headstone. A body being eaten by worms.

"What the hell, Neji..." Tenten muttered, kicking the grass softly with her foot. She wasn't supposed to be standing here in front of her friend's grave. She had always been stricken by her teammate's raw talent and strength, but equally admirable was how hard he worked for everything. And it had ended like this. Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

Sometimes when she thought about it, she was so sad she just wanted to collapse on the ground and cry the way Ino had done earlier in front of everyone. Others, she was just angry that Neji had given his life for the future of others. This was one of those times.

It was a stupid thing to be angry over. After all, how could she justify feeling angry when Neji had done what he needed to save his cousin and a person everyone believed could save the world? It was a downright selfish feeling, but she was furious that her teammate was just a body in the ground when he, out of pretty much _anyone else,_ had deserved more than this. Even if it had been his choice, couldn't he have done something else? He was—he'd _been_ —one of the strongest people she knew. Surely whipping out Hakkeshou Kaiten would've been simple enough.

"Tenten..." Lee started, trailing off. It wasn't like him to speak so reluctantly, but she could see from her periphery the concern in his eyes, and that he wasn't pressing any further because he knew she was upset.

"We shouldn't even be here," she told him as she glared at the headstone. This one was pretty plain, reading "In honour of Hyuuga Neji, friend and hero". It didn't do justice to the man Neji had been.

"I understand how you feel, Tenten," the taijutsu specialist replied as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "My greatest rival... This feeling is more than I can bear."

Her eyes burned, trying to force the tears away. Stupid Neji. How could he just leave them like that? He'd done it to save his cousin, his talentless, privileged main Hyuuga family cousin who hadn't been able to say hello to her without stuttering for three years. The girl who at first glance only made you think "white eyes" and "big bo—

"Tenten-san, Lee-san..."

In a flash, a broken-looking Hyuuga Hinata was standing behind her with Uzumaki Naruto and Tenten felt horrible for having such vicious thoughts. It wasn't right to blame Hinata for Neji's death. It wasn't the heiress' fault that she was born into the main family, nor that she was shy or not the genius Neji had been. It wasn't right to blame her, but Tenten knew she was looking for somebody to blame. There _was_ nobody to blame. Neji had chosen this and it was way too difficult to accept.

"H-hey," Tenten said tightly to the both of them. She really hoped they didn't want to talk. Even if seeing Hinata had managed to quell most of her anger, she wasn't in the mood for socializing today, especially not with the people her teammate had sacrificed himself for.

"Hinata-san," Lee greeted her solemnly, "the sun shines today, but it feels like such a gray day, doesn't it?"

"Yes..."

There was silence and Tenten noted that Naruto hadn't said a word the entire time. She turned to look at him and found that he was the one struggling with Neji's death the most openly right now. She recalled the way he'd felt during the war, how hopeless he'd been. Everyone had been depending on him and he hadn't been able to protect himself or his friend. Being here by his grave must have brought all those feelings rushing back. He was quiet, but the anguish on his face and the tears streaming down his cheeks portrayed exactly how she felt inside right now.

Tenten didn't know how she could've ever been angry at him.

Everyone was hurting so much. What kind of words could be said that would bring some kind of consolation to any of them? Nothing was going to make her feel any better now. This was so pathetic. She couldn't even respect the decision Neji had made because she was still upset that he had made it in the first place.

"Naruto-kun, I weep for my friend's burning youth as you do," Lee spoke quietly, his voice cracking and Tenten knew that he had started crying again.

"I... I..." Naruto stuttered as he took in shaky breaths. "Damn it!"

He turned and ran so fast that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Apparently, saying anything at all was _still_ the wrong thing to say. She almost envied him for running away. Although Naruto hadn't been Neji's teammate, they'd shared a bond that was permanent and deep. He had changed Neji for the better. But he had also brought his team back together, and now hers was the one that was broken. It was broken and unfixable. He could run away from this. She couldn't.

"N-Naruto-kun...!" Hinata called after him in concern. In hasty movements, she bowed quickly to her cousin's headstone, then to Tenten and Lee before sprinting off after Naruto.

"My, my, Neji sure is popular."

Tenten's eyes popped open abruptly. That voice...

She whirled and dropped into a bow herself as Lee followed suit. "Hokage-sama!"

Her idol stood in front of Neji's grave with a sad smile on her face, as beautiful and radiant as ever. If anyone looked as youthful as Lee and Gai-sensei claimed they were all the time, it was Senju Tsunade. It didn't matter that the smoothness of her skin and the brightness of her face weren't real; the skill behind maintaining something like that awed Tenten enough. To her, this was the most powerful woman in the world.

"I hate to play favourites, but he was definitely one of my favourite jounin," Tsunade admitted, letting out a resigned sigh. "It's tough, isn't it? Coming home and knowing he won't be with you."

Tenten swallowed, willing herself to push back the rush of emotion that was threatening to spill out of her at any moment. She didn't know how much crying the world could take in one day, but she was tired of it. There were so many people crying everywhere around her, people mourning for the death of loved ones who hadn't seen it coming or were terrified at their deaths. Her teammate had died with a smile on his face and all she could feel was rage and sorrow that Neji had chosen to leave them. She cared about how _she_ felt right now, not how he had felt back then. It was so selfish, but there was no other way she could feel about it in this moment.

"One of my teammates defected a long time ago, and ended up facilitating the death of our teacher. The other was killed by Pein," the Godaime told them wistfully. "My team...has been broken for a long time. Back then, I was so focused on how worthless I felt that I was the one who ended up fracturing it further. It's something I can't help but regret." She turned to Tenten with eyes full of empathy. "It's okay to feel angry, and to feel anything else you're feeling right now."

"H-how did you...?" the weapons specialist choked out.

Tsunade smiled. "It's written all over your face. You don't hide as well as you think you do," she answered simply. "But don't let it break your team apart. It might seem easier to run away, but in the end, it's not worth everything you lose doing it. Time...is something I took for granted when it came to more than a few people."

"You two take care of each other," the Hokage advised them airily, nodding at both "Neji" and Lee before she walked off as Lee scrambled to bow again, presumably to pay respects to someone else.

Tenten stared, awed at the fact that Tsunade had told her something so personal. That it was such wise advice when she couldn't properly deal with her emotions made her admire the female Sannin even more. This was the woman she aspired to be like. She...she had a long way to go...

"Let's go see Gai-sensei," she suggested softly. Sure, there was still anger stirring within her, but Neji wasn't really _here_ anymore, and she had another teammate here that she cared for just as much. She couldn't go back in time and change things, perhaps one day she would be able to peacefully accept his decision and the way things turned out, but right now, she had to cherish the things she had.

Lee grinned and put on his best nice-guy pose. "Yes, Tenten, let's go!"

* * *

He'd had to get out of there, and that was why he'd run. Tenten had looked so angry, maybe at him, maybe at Neji—he didn't know. Lee had looked so lost and despondent, the way Naruto had felt when Sasuke had left them. And Hinata, who had specifically asked him to come to visit Neji's grave with her had such a powerful aura of melancholy that Naruto thought he was going to suffocate from everything he was feeling.

He wanted to keep running until his legs gave out. The adrenaline from running without chakra could make him forget just a little the unfairness of it all. All Neji had wanted was freedom, and though he had smiled upon his death, though the seal that caged him faded with his last breaths, though he had chosen the fate that his actions would bring him, Naruto simply couldn't see how this could really be freedom. He had been tethered to a seal that could control him his last moments, and even if Hiashi didn't really seem like a bad guy, it didn't change what the branch families of the Hyuuga saw in that seal.

And although that was terrible and something that needed to be changed, the thing that Naruto couldn't deal with was the lie his own words had been.

The thought of it _sickened_ him and his feet pounded against the ground even harder. It wasn't his fault, but he was still a liar. The world was safe, but he was a liar. Sasuke came home, but he was a liar. Liar, liar, _lia—_

He crashed into someone _hard_ , and they both went tumbling to the ground. He rubbed his head as he sat up, looking around worriedly and sincerely hoping he hadn't just seriously injured someone in his recklessness.

To his surprise, it was someone who was more likely to inflict injury upon _him_ for being so reckless. "Ack! Sakura-chan! S-sorry, I didn't see you there!"

"Jeez, Naruto! Watch where you're going!" Sakura hissed, massaging her shoulder, which he assumed was the area he'd collided with. Her expression changed immediately when she set her eyes on him and the tone of her voice softened. "Hey, what's going on?"

"I'm fine," he replied as he wiped his face on his sleeve before shooting her a forced grin. Man, what he must look like with bloodshot eyes and snot coming out of his nose.

His close friend looked hurt at his denial. She looked at the ground with interest. "You know, I can see right through that smile. If you don't want to tell me what this is about, that's fine, but at least tell me the truth."

The words stung him with guilt. He never wanted to burden Sakura with his problems, so his first reaction was to deny that anything was wrong, but she was also the same person he had spent so much time with over the last two years. She knew him better than anyone and he could see that in trying to keep his own problems away from her, he was only hurting her. He trusted her implicitly, and after all this time, he knew he shouldn't push her away.

"Hinata asked me to visit Neji's grave with her, but I..." He swallowed, struggling to continue. "I just couldn't deal with it."

"Neji meant a lot to you. It's normal for you to need some time," Sakura consoled him as she moved closer, hand on his arm.

"No, it's not that he's gone. It's not," he said, shaking his head and playing with the grass beneath him. "I just... I keep thinking back to when we fought during the chuunin exams."

She glanced at him in confusion. "You changed him."

Naruto bit his lip and shook his head more vigorously this time. "That's why this is _wrong_. Everything I said back then to him was a _lie_." He got to his feet with a pained sigh. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke and I never would've been able to defeat Kaguya if we didn't inherit the chakra of the old man's sons. We wouldn't even be _alive_ because we wouldn't have met the old man and he wouldn't have brought us back. That—that doing all that _was_ my destiny. It's like I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing without even knowing! Neji was _right!_ I never changed fate because I inherited Asura's will from the start and I changed his mind with a lie!"

Sakura rose next to him, grasping both his arms as she spoke firmly, "Alright, I don't understand everything that happened with the Sage perfectly, but since when has Uzumaki Naruto believed in fate?"

He didn't answer. He didn't believe in fate. But right now, it sure felt every decision and every action he had made up to this point wasn't really his own, like the strength he had come to possess had been handed to him instead of earned. "I don't, but—"

"No," his teammate denied sharply, "there is no 'but'. Do you really think that just because you inherited someone else's chakra that it changes who you are? Who you were supposed to be?" Her eyes were filled with so much conviction that he couldn't look away. She believed so fiercely in what she was saying that it almost made him believe it too.

"You _chose_ to be someone who smiled instead of holding grudges. You _chose_ to work hard to become stronger. _You_ chose to put your life on the line for everyone else. And _you_ ," Sakura paused, glaring at him, " _beat Neji._ "

He trembled against her grip. "How do you know, Sakura-chan?"

She smiled reassuringly. "Because I know you. If you hadn't worked as hard as you did or had been as determined as you were, then _and_ now, none of us would be standing here today. You never followed some sort of fate, Naruto. You've always been Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja."

Naruto managed to return her smile. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

"Now that I think about it, being unpredictable is kind of predictable for you, you know?" she asked thoughtfully, nudging him in the side playfully.

"Hey! I thought you were cheering me up," he pouted as he crossed his arms to sulk, but he couldn't fully conceal the twitch at the edge of his lips.

"Don't even bother trying to look angry, Naruto. It isn't working at all."

He laughed a little before his expression fell again. "Really, Sakura-chan, thanks. I thought I'd already dealt with this, but as soon as I was standing there, I..."

"It happened in the middle of a war, Naruto," Sakura said, brushing it off. "You didn't get a chance to grieve and neither did anyone else." She sighed, rocking back on her heels. "He was my friend too, you know. It's going to take time for everyone to get used to the fact that he's gone."

"I'm going to make sure no other Hyuuga ever has to feel the same way he did," Naruto proclaimed in determination as he wiped away his tears.

"When you're Hokage?" she asked with a subtle smirk.

"When I'm Hokage," he agreed. Feeling a little lighter, he grinned back at her. "Speaking of that, Tsunade-baachan says they're letting Sasuke out tonight."

"Really? That's quicker than I expected. I've been so busy at the hospital lately that I've barely seen Tsunade-shishou. You know more than I do," she replied.

She did look tired, Naruto noted. Though there were dark circles under her eyes, but the fire in her hadn't died down at all. He hadn't seen Sakura much either, considering he had been helping Tsunade and (annoyingly) filling out reports for what had happened during the war. He almost wished his prosthetic hadn't been prepared so fast just so he could avoid it. Still, every once in a while, he would sneak away from what he was supposed to be doing with a shadow clone to peek in on her at the hospital, just to see how she was doing, but that was the extent of his contact with her. Hell, he'd even seen Sasuke more often since he'd been allowed to visit him in the prison.

He was happy to be talking with her right now. Only she was able to handle his moods as easily as she did. And the way she looked under the sunlight...she was so beautiful...

"Naruto?"

He jumped as she cut into his stupor. "Huh?"

"You were talking about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

He blushed, hoping she wouldn't figure out what had distracted him. "Right. He-he's staying at my place until he can find his own since the Uchiha compound was destroyed by Pein. And he's bringing the people from the team he made—Team Bird or whatever."

" _Taka_ ," Sakura corrected him without missing a beat, though she shot him a sharp look, "and they're staying with you?"

"Yeah, since Sasuke said they needed a place to stay too."

"Then I'm staying too," she stated simply.

Naruto stared at her. "Eh?"

"I am _staying with you_ ," Sakura repeated in a tone that left no room for argument. "Are you forgetting that you're going to be housing people who were fugitives until just a few days ago?"

The answer was yes. He hadn't even thought about Sasuke or any of his friends as being missing-nin. His brain simply didn't work that way. Sasuke was his _brother_ , and despite any wrongdoings in his past (and Naruto accepted that there were a hell of a lot of those), he had been a victim of a circumstance he had been thrust into, and they connected through that. They hadn't seen eye to eye for a long time, but the trust had never truly faded. Naruto had kept his faith in Sasuke alive and never let it waver, through any situation. Now that they were on the same page, the trust was only stronger. He trusted Sasuke, and by extension, he trusted Sasuke's friends.

"B-but it's _Sasuke,_ " was the only thing he could say to Sakura.

She looked off forlornly. "You trust him. I can't," she replied. The expression of remorse on her face sent a pang through his own chest when he was reminded of all the times Sakura had cried over Sasuke. Her mistrust of him only meant that pain was still there. "At least, not yet."

"Sakura-chan..."

She gave him the same broken smile he'd given her earlier. "I'm sorry, Naruto. After everything you did to bring him back too..."

He swallowed thickly. "No, you...you can't help how you feel about Sasuke..."

"No matter how I feel, I'm glad he's home," Sakura assured him. "I...never thanked you for keeping your promise. So..." She glanced up at him, her eyes meeting his and he could feel his heart speed up. "...thank you, not just for keeping your promise, but for everything else too. I never knew that day, when Iruka-sensei called our names, how lucky I was to be your teammate."

Her eyes were one thing. Her words were another. Regardless, both were piercing him to the very core and he didn't know how to react. Sakura didn't say things like this to him very often, but she was baring her heart to him right now. It was funny how close they could be, how they could talk about anything to each other besides their feelings. He'd always continued to ask her out on dates and sometimes she would casually accept to go along as friends, but "as friends" was different from how he really felt. He loved being friends with her, but he was also _in love_ with her and he couldn't help the warmth she made him feel.

It was the same way she was making him feel now.

He could tell her now, right? Naruto had resolved not to tell her how he felt unless he could fulfill his promise, because Sakura deserved someone who could keep his promises. He finally had, and even if she still loved Sasuke, even if she was disgusted by his feelings for her, and even if she rejected him so horribly that it crippled him for life, he had to tell her how he felt. She had been one of his dreams since he had first laid eyes upon her and he wouldn't give up on making it come true until he heard it straight from her mouth that it was never going to happen.

He internally shoved aside the blush on his face and started determinedly, his eyes burning into hers and his head lowering. "Sakura-chan, I—"

"Naruto-kun!"

* * *

How could she have lost him so quickly? Hinata knew that Naruto was by far a better ninja than she was, but she didn't think that turning her back to give Neji one last bow would lead her to a half an hour search for him. He had been so upset and had disappeared almost instantly the moment he started running.

Guilt welled up within her. It was her fault for asking him to visit Neji with her. He'd seemed solemn when she had asked, but she certainly hadn't known that he was so unready to confront the death of her cousin. She wouldn't have asked him at all if she knew how much grief it would cause him, and she wouldn't have wanted her asking him to have put any pressure on him. She really hoped it hadn't.

She used her Byakugan to look for him, but it was difficult to determine exactly where he was because there were so many shinobi in the areas she was searching. She could only see chakra patterns, not sense them, and as big as Naruto's chakra was, there were a lot of shinobi around to sort through. Besides that, it was the first time she had used her clan technique in a week and her eyes still needed rest. She had used them too much during the war and the recovery was definitely longer than usual.

The moment she found him, she took off to see if he was okay. The last thing she wanted was for Naruto to be hurt, especially because of something she had done.

However, when she reached him, she stopped short, her heart beating painfully.

Naruto was standing close— _too_ close—to his female teammate, his face flushed and his eyes deep with emotion. Sakura was drawn in to them, waiting...for something.

Hinata knew she should not be there. Something was happening between them and she knew she shouldn't be there to witness any of it. She was still far enough away that they hadn't noticed her, although some of that was probably attributed to the intimate situation they were in right now, but the important thing was that she could leave at this very moment. They would never even know she was here.

But before she could stop herself, her feet were moving forward and her mouth was opening at the same time Naruto's was.

"Naruto-kun!"

Why? _Why_? Hinata asked herself, even as they directed their attention to her. She shouldn't have interrupted whatever was occurring between them and she knew that. She had sought him out to comfort him, but he seemed to have already found consolation in his teammate. She—she hadn't meant to...

"I have a shift at the hospital to get to. I'll see you later," Sakura said to Naruto as she stepped away from him, waving shortly to Hinata as she departed. She even sent Hinata a very encouraging look as their eyes met. What was that supposed to mean...?

Naruto approached her with a grin. His eyes were still a bit red, so she could tell that he had only stopped crying recently. Of course, in that 30 minute timeframe, she had no idea what had happened with him and Sakura. All she knew was that Sakura cared for Naruto a great deal and when they were together, he was in good hands...hands that had been the ones to help and heal him for the last five years.

"Hinata... Sorry I ran off earlier," he apologized, scratching his head sheepishly.

"It-it's fine," she replied, her stutter more a result of her discomfort for putting herself in this situation in the first place than of her original lack of confidence. "I was just worried..."

"I didn't mean to worry you! Really, I'm okay," Naruto assured her with a wide smile. Chuckling softly, he folded his arms behind his head. "I guess I freaked out a little, but Sakura-chan put me back in place."

His words resonated in her mind. It was _Sakura_ who had helped him. It was _Sakura_ who was always helping him. Even though she had finally worked up the courage to ask him to accompany her _somewhere_ , and even though she had gone after him to make sure he was okay, to make sure she could be there if he was not, it was still Sakura who had done these things for him. Hinata had gotten through to him during the war, but it was Sakura who had communicated his feelings to the rest of the alliance. Hinata had tried to run to his side when he was dying, but it was Sakura who was already there, keeping him alive.

This wasn't about making sure Naruto was okay anymore. He was fine because Sakura had made sure of that. During the war, she had promised herself that she would stop chasing him. She didn't want to chase him; she wanted to be by his side as his lover, and if not, then his comrade. But she _was_ by his side as a comrade. Why else would he have accepted her invitation to come with her to visit Neji if she wasn't? And yet somehow, she was still in the chase. She was still reaching for the man that had always been her inspiration. She wanted him to love her and that had not changed in several years. If there was a chance, Hinata had to try.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed. Her heart was beating so loudly it was pounding in her ears. This was the make or break moment. She had built up the courage to do this once before. Now, the brave person she had always aspired to become would be the one to make him acknowledge her feelings. "I...would worry anyway. I would worry because...I love you."

His eyes grew wide as he stared at her and Hinata could feel her chest constricting. He seemed more surprised than unaware because his face grew remorseful in an instant. So...he did remember. He remembered, but he hadn't said anything.

"I know," he told her, and Hinata wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a good or bad response. She didn't know a lot about romance—Ino was really the one a girl should go to for advice—but "I know" didn't really give anything back to her. Was he happy? Did he feel anywhere even close to the same for her? With the few conversations they'd had over their life, she wasn't expecting any kind of "I love you" right out the door, but she really wanted _something_.

"Naruto-kun...?" Hinata urged him to continue.

"I know," he repeated a little more solidly this time. "Things have been one after another recently and I never said anything. No matter how crazy things got, I still should've talked to you. I'm really sorry I didn't."

She drew in the smallest breath of air in anticipation of what he was going to say next. She could tell that Naruto felt bad for not acknowledging her confession earlier, but other than that, his face gave away nothing except determination. This was it. He was going to finally going to give her an answer, positive or negative. No matter what he chose, she could live with it.

"Honestly, when I was a kid, there was a part of me that thought I'd never hear anyone say those words to me. For anyone to know that there's a person out there who loves them, I think everyone should have that," he told her gently, a soft smile on his face. "I'm really happy, Hinata, but...I can't return your feelings."

The world stood still for a moment. _"I can't return your feelings."_ She had heard it. Those were the words that came from his mouth, and just like that, a dream that had grown within her since she was scarcely old enough to know what love was began to fall apart in front of her. She wasn't sure exactly what she had truly been expecting, but the hope that the answer would be different was undeniable. Instead of the relief she'd been desperately wanting to feel, the tightness in her chest grew. She had held the hand of Uzumaki Naruto, but she would never kiss him. She would never be his girlfriend or his wife, and she would never be the one who came first in his heart.

Even so, Hinata couldn't let go. Not...not yet.

She was wrong. To say what she wanted to with a smile— _that_ was the person she had aspired to become. She willed the burning in her eyes away and let the corners of her lips curl naturally. She couldn't force it; someone like Naruto would be able to tell in an instant, so she remembered that he was doing what was best for himself. He had to do this in his pursuit for happiness, and as someone who loved him, that was all she could want for him.

"I...I understand, Naruto-kun. But please know that watching you inspired me to be strong. You will always be important to me," Hinata told him, proud that she had said it without a hitch in her voice or a stutter in her sentence. She held eye-contact. She kept herself together. She was strong. "I hope that we can always be friends."

Naruto looked appalled at the assertion that they might _not_ be friends. "Of course we'll always be friends!"

Her smile widened. "I'm glad."

She bowed to him, telling him that she would be going back to see Neji one more time for today. The expression on his face was sympathetic, but he didn't say anything to bring up what had just happened again. He simply nodded and thanked her without a reason. Still, she could hear the unspoken words that were there. _"Thank you...for loving me."_

And so Hinata was the one who walked away from him, not stopping until she was certain she was far enough away from everyone that she could be alone with her thoughts. Her legs automatically carried her to the Twelfth Training Ground where she, Kiba and Shino had first come together as a real team. She had always drawn inspiration from Naruto, but her team had been the first people to endow her with any sort of confidence. This was a place of change. It was a place of growth.

It was the place where she could finally let go.

A breath shuttered through her as she smiled. Hinata was so proud of herself. She had said what she needed to Naruto, even in the face of rejection. She had been strong. She had become the person she wanted to be, but even strength ran out after a while. There was no need to hold it together right now. She could let all of it go and begin to heal, so she did.

Hinata sank to the ground and cried.

* * *

Sakura walked along the street with her overnight bag, heading towards Naruto's apartment. Her parents didn't mind her staying the night at Naruto's place—in fact, her dad especially seemed to encourage it (figures, considering Naruto was the only person in all of Konoha who genuinely found her dad's horrible jokes funny)—but they didn't seem too thrilled that Sasuke was going to be there too. It made her feel bad enough that she had to leave out that Sasuke's other teammates were going to be there too. She didn't want her parents to worry more than they already were. If they caught wind that Naruto was letting people straight out of prison stay in his house, they'd probably have a heart attack.

The logical part of her already knew these people were dangerous, and by herself, she didn't stand a chance of protecting Naruto against them, but she still had to be there. She had to see what they were like herself, see if they were worth her trust, and...see if she could trust Sasuke again. The terms of their release from prison were unclear, but if Tsunade found them fit to be free, then there had to be a good reason. Besides, the three of them seemed to be cooperating for now. Sakura wasn't stupid enough to think Sasuke would just sit in prison for a week unless he was really trying to change. Still, one week of following Konoha's laws didn't prove much to her, but at least it was a start. She didn't want to mistrust Sasuke anymore. She had never been able to truly understand him and he didn't seem to want to let her, but regardless of everything he'd done, she still considered him a friend.

Now Karin and Jūgo, Sakura didn't know much about. She knew the basics of their skills from Konoha's Bingo Book, but on a personal level, she didn't understand much of anything about them. The fact that they had remained with Sasuke when he knew he would inevitably be sentenced to prison for at least some time meant that they were astoundingly loyal to him. None of them were from the same village or anything, but somehow, they had created a bond that was worth following Sasuke for. She'd have to be amicable and cautious at the same time. She couldn't get along with Sasuke if she couldn't get along with his new friends too. This whole thing would be easier if she were more like Naruto. He'd accepted Karin and Jūgo into his home without a second thought.

Naruto... The last time she'd seen him was earlier today when Hinata had shown up. Sakura had done her best not to show it, but the whole situation had been a bit awkward. She could deny it until her last breath if she wanted to, but she knew the air around her and Naruto had been thick with emotion. She didn't dare think about what kind. She had sent the most supportive smile she possibly could at Hinata, knowing how in love the Hyuuga was with Naruto. Still, the thought of what could have occurred after she left made her clench her fists.

 _I shouldn't be so possessive of him just because he's my teammate_ , Sakura thought to herself. The dishonest confession she'd given him had shown her that. She couldn't decide what was best for him. Hinata was a good girl. Naruto could decide his own feelings for her. Besides that, she wasn't even sure what she was hoping would happen between the two, and that was another thing she was really trying not to think about.

As she arrived at the door of her teammate's apartments, she already heard loud voices inside. One was Naruto's. The other was a female's, so she could only assume it was Karin's. Sasuke's group couldn't have been there for more than the couple of hours, yet Naruto was already arguing with one of them? Sakura wished she could be surprised, but she really wasn't. Sighing, she simply knocked on the door loudly enough for someone inside to hear. Naruto answered it in a moment, still yelling.

"For the last time, I had it from the start!" he shouted over his shoulder as the door swung open. He had already dressed down into an old t-shirt and shorts and she could see behind him that the others were in their nightwear as well. His eyes brightened when they landed on her. "You're really here, Sakura-chan!"

"I told you I would be," Sakura replied as she stepped inside, taking in the stoic form of Sasuke leaning against the wall Jūgo and Karin sat at the round tablewhere a bunch of cards were lying on the table.

"There is no way you could've gotten those hands twice in a row! Absolutely no way!" Karin screamed, hands slamming down in complete outrage. In her anger, she didn't even seem to notice that Sakura had entered the room.

"You can't just accuse me of cheating for being lucky!" Naruto retorted with a glare as he sat back down on the floor in front of the table.

"Yes I can because you are!"

"It's just a game..." Jūgo said with a tired smile and was promptly ignored.

"Sasuke, tell her to quit yelling at me! I didn't do anything wrong!" Naruto shouted over the table at his friend.

"Sasuke, tell him to 'fess up and quit cheating!" Karin shouted in perfect conjunction.

The man didn't even bother looking at the two of them, instead slumping against the corner of the wall and staring out the window. "You're both too noisy."

" _Sasuke!_ " the two of them whined simultaneously before exchanging yet another set of glares and started to yell at each other again.

"Er, hello. I don't think we've formally met," Jūgo greeted her as he stood from the table and bowed politely. "I'm Jūgo. Sasuke has been kind enough to take me in, even with my condition."

It surprised her a little how open he was about the fits of rage and destruction he had, considering she had only heard about it in more detail through Shizune as a result of cooperative interrogation, though it also made sense that he would be so compliant if he wanted to stay in Konoha with Sasuke. Even Sasuke had been unexpectedly blunt in his answers, although he had only been willing to speak to Kakashi about such matters. She didn't know the details, but obviously their candidness combined with their contribution during the war had been enough to release them from prison quickly.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she said, bowing in return. "I hope we can get along. This may be a bit sudden, but I've heard a bit about your condition through my colleagues. We have the best medical facilities here in the world, so if you'd like, we may be able to find something to help with your unwanted impulses."

Jūgo looked stunned. "O-oh. I'll...think about it. Thank you."

"I'm Karin!" the redhead introduced herself as she shoved Naruto out of the way and finally seemed to notice the presence of another woman. Her eyes narrowed. "You're the one who healed me last time."

"Um, yes. It's good to see you're okay," Sakura replied, slightly taken aback by Karin's intense stare. She hardly knew Karin. What was with the glare?

Karin was silent for a moment as she scrutinized the other female, then asked loudly, "Are you in love with Sasuke?"

The room became so quiet that the caws of the ravens outside became the most evident noise around. All eyes were on Sakura and she felt like she was going to die. Regardless of the fact that she wanted to get along with Sasuke's Team Taka, she would not stand for being so rudely spoken to like that. Her face grew red, more with anger than embarrassment.

"Are _you_ in love with Sasuke?" she shot back accusingly, so annoyed that she forgot the usual honorific she associated with his name. There was no way in hell that she was going to talk about whatever feelings she had for Sasuke in front of the rest of them anyway.

Karin, clearly not having expected such a reply, cleared her throat in nervousness, looking slightly stupefied. "Sakura, right? N-nice to see you again...!"

Content that the subject had been dropped, the medic nodded. "So neither of you have a family name?"

"Not that I remember," Karin stated as she sat back down at the table and began gathering the cards while Jūgo shook his head. "It's been way too long."

"Uzumaki," Sasuke suddenly cut in from his corner.

"Eh?" Naruto glanced at his best friend quizzically.

"Karin's clan name is Uzumaki," he clarified, looking out the window again. Casually. As if he wasn't dropping some sort of bomb on all of them.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two presumed Uzumakis. Jūgo blinked in confusion. Karin stared at Sasuke in bewilderment and Naruto's jaw hung open. For the second time that night, the room was completely silent.

And then Naruto launched himself at Karin, throwing his arms around her. "COUSIN!" he shouted in glee.

"H-hey! Get off me, you pervert! Only Sasuke's allowed to do that!"

Sakura settled onto the floor next to Jūgo, trying to process exactly what had just occurred as she watched the two continue fighting. Tonight...was certainly going to be interesting.

* * *

"I'm out," he watched Sakura groan as Naruto swept yet another round of poker. The way these games were going, Sasuke didn't even know why the rest of them even bothered playing. Naruto was almost unfairly lucky, only losing once every five hands. At least no money was involved, not that he had much between himself, Karin and Jūgo anyway. Perhaps a bit if there was still some under the Uchiha name.

He wasn't exactly lost in thought when Sakura moved over to sit next to him, but he was a little surprised she did. Though the bruise she'd left on him had nearly faded, he definitely hadn't forgotten what had occurred. Sasuke couldn't fault her for her actions that day. After all, their last interaction before that had been him setting a pretty cruel genjutsu on her. Most of the things that came out of his mouth regarding her hadn't exactly been kind either. There was no denying that he deserved that punch to the face. If anything, it had made him respect her more.

The result of all that was not tension, but more wariness on her part. He'd never felt particularly close to Sakura, but she was his teammate, and there were things she had done for him in the past that he was thankful for. Right now, he was grateful that Naruto wasn't the only person willing to give him a second chance. She was being cautious of him, yet taking a seat beside him. Oddly enough, when he was twelve, he would've thought this was just another ploy of hers to feed her crush. He never thought he would be the one on the appreciative side of this relationship. He'd spent so long trying to crush every bond he'd created and here he was succumbing to them again. The only difference was he couldn't see it as a weakness anymore.

"Alright, who would win if this ends up in a fight? Naruto or Karin?" Sakura asked him as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She had changed into her nightwear as well before starting to play cards. It was quite a strange feeling, being in a room full of teenagers playing games, careless. He was used to sleepless nights and constantly watching his back.

"Karin," he answered automatically, because although Karin's aggressive personality wasn't able to penetrate his stoic nature, she'd probably scare the crap out of Naruto if she ever got as bad as she did during her worst fights with Suigetsu. It'd taken both him _and_ Jūgo to prevent her from trying to maul the shit out of their other teammate, and even then, she didn't stop until he outright told her to.

Sakura let out a short laugh. "I guess you would know well enough. You were with them longer than you were with us."

Sasuke glanced at her, his expression blank at that revelation. It was true. He'd been with Team Taka longer than he'd been with Team 7, and that was a difficult thought to swallow considering all the pleas he had received from Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi over the years. Who knew what other things they had done for him in his absence?

He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel guilty or not. A good person with a strong conscience probably would, but it was abundantly clear that the Curse Seal had burned what was left of that away from him. If he turned into the type of person who regretted his past, he would drown under everything. He'd felt the same way when he was a child and woke up to a massacre—he couldn't look back, he could only look forward. He didn't regret taking the path he had; at the time, those decisions had been the right ones for him.

Unfortunately, those decisions had led him to destroying the bridge he had to this girl, and now he had no idea how to talk to her. He admitted that it was a little awkward. They used to be able to sit together in comfortable silence (or his silence while she rambled), except that had been when she'd trusted him and hadn't been so guarded. He'd done his best to apologize to her already, but past that, socializing was always an issue. He had never been good with anything that wasn't business or competition.

Luckily, Sasuke didn't have to say anything since she started speaking again. At least one of them could succeed when putting effort into this sort of thing.

"Naruto already got his prosthetic installed a few days ago. Has Tsunade-sama cleared you for yours yet?" she inquired, keeping the conversation light.

Good. Easy question. "No."

"Are you going to ask her to?"

Damn it. Hard one. "...No." Now she was going to ask him why and he was going to have to explain.

"Why not?"

"It's a reminder," he told her, doing his best to be honest. She said so herself that he wasn't forgiven yet, so if he wasn't comfortable making the first step to get there, then the least he could do was accept the one she was taking. "I won't regret the things I've done up until now, but I know I caused a lot of harm to a lot of people. Everything I did was selfish and it didn't solve anything for me in the end. Naruto's the one who's always been right. It's a reminder of all of that, and it's what I need."

Sakura was looking at him in a way he thought meant she was a little impressed. "Sasuke-kun, that's...that's really thoughtful."

Sasuke shrugged. "I thought it might be time to start thinking of others."

She was watching Naruto now, a smile on her face as he revealed yet another royal flush to a thoroughly beaten-looking Jūgo. "Of course Naruto would make you do that," she replied with a tender expression that Sasuke had never cared to notice before.

...He'd definitely been gone for a long time.

"Heh, you and Naruto then? That idiot really does know how to turn everything around," Sasuke noted with a smirk. Dead Last never failed to amaze him. Somehow, Naruto had not only won a deep friendship with Sakura, but he had taken her heart too.

Her head snapped back to him. " _What?_ I don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura protested, despite the blush that was now on her face.

"Hn." Sasuke looked back at the window as the medic-nin continued to object to his implication. Karin and Naruto were shouting at each other again while Jūgo attempted to calm them both down. Everyone was way too boisterous and there would undoubtedly be someone by the apartment to complain about the ruckus eventually. It was loud and a little dysfunctional, almost like a family gathering.

Yeah... It was good to be home.


	2. Part II

**Notes:** Just as I said, the update was slow. Er, sorry. But also like I said, I guarantee a finished product! It's almost been a whole year since the terrible nightmare that spawned this fic occurred, so miserable anniversary to you all, I guess! Things are mostly Team 7 from here on out, but there is a lengthy scene featuring Team 8 since poor Shino and Kiba got the least amount of attention of the rookies in the manga.

Another massive thank you to my Chief Beta Reader Extraordinaire, **Irradiance!** And another huge thank you to those who reviewed, alerted, and favourited.

Shots were fired this chapter. See if you can catch at least 3 of them.

* * *

 _ ** _ **Lifting the Dream**_ **_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Part II of III**

 _ **"No matter what you say this time, we're going to be together!"**_

* * *

"And so now he and his team are living with me until he's allowed to get his own place! I found out that one of them is some sort of relative of mine too, which is really cool, even if she's sort of nuts. It's only been a day so far, but it's been fun," Naruto rambled as he leaned against the memorial stone. "Oh, and guess who else stayed over! Yeah, Sakura-chan did! I mean, of course it's not the way I would've wanted her first night over at my place to be like, but I'm not complaining!"

"Are you boring that old fool with your chatter yet?" Tsunade's voice rang out behind him as he shifted to look at the current Hokage.

"Baa-chan, this was supposed to be a conversation between men," he whined, standing up to greet her.

"Oh? Is that why I heard you bragging about having my best student sleep over at your house?"

His face flamed red. "It was a team gathering!"

"I'm _sure_ that was what you were bragging about."

There had been a lot of bickering going on lately and the light-heartedness was a nice change from all the recent pain. Losing Ero-sennin had easily been the worst thing that had ever happened to him—the man had been the closest thing he'd ever had to a father, after all—but the only thing he could do was go on living. At least he could still talk to the pervert when he needed to, much for the same reason, he suspected, that Tsunade was here.

"Eh? I don't think you're hearing correctly, you old hag. You must be getting senile!" Naruto retorted petulantly as he picked at his ear. "You hear that, Ero-sennin? She can hide her wrinkly face but not her decomposing brain!"

"You brat—!"

They yelled stupid and pointless things at each other for a while, but eventually ended up sitting in front of Jiraiya's memorial side by side with a decidedly peaceful air around them. Naruto wondered how he had once been that kid that felt like nobody in the world cared about him when he had wound up with such a wonderfully weird makeshift family. Granted, a mother figure who was a gambling drunk was probably not the best role model for a child to have, but Tsunade was so much more underneath that. He'd seen it and that was always what he was going to see in her.

"You know, we're technically supposed to be at the tower at the same time today," Naruto pointed out. He loved sleeping in and was never one to get up earlier than he had to, sometimes to the point of being late, but he'd dragged himself out of bed this morning in order to visit Jiraiya before he had to head to "work". He was making it a point of being punctual and not shirking off his boring duties to a shadow clone. After the war, it was overwhelming how much people seemed to look up to him, and he realized he had to start being responsible for even the administrative stuff if he wanted to set a good example for anyone who _did._ In addition to that, Naruto truly did want to be Hokage. If tedious paperwork was part of it, that was what he was going to do!

"I don't have any meetings this morning," Tsunade waved him off airily. "Besides, I've been Hokage for a fairly long time now. I'm allowed a little wiggle room. Things are winding down."

"I guess that's true. Still, I never thought _I'd_ be the one responsible enough to go to work on time," he said airily. "Hokage stuff seems more important than my dumb paperwork too."

"That 'dumb paperwork' is going into history books, brat, so I think what you're doing is pretty important. Me? I'm becoming a lot less important around here," Tsunade explained as she leaned back on her hands, glancing at the trees. For some reason, there was something in her tone and words that Naruto thought seemed to have a deeper meaning. If they did, he didn't understand what she was trying to say.

"Baa-chan...?"

"You should probably hear it from me," she answered with a shrug. "I'm stepping down from my position as Hokage."

Naruto stared at her. "You're _what?_ "

Tsunade scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, it's not that much of a surprise. You remember that I didn't want to be Hokage in the first place, don't you?"

"Yeah, but baa-chan, the war's just ended! Konoha needs you!" he said desperately. As much as he wanted to be Hokage in the future, Naruto knew he wasn't ready. He had very little experience with politics and knew next to nothing about the new alliance that had formed between all the villages. Regardless of how many friends he had, running a village was an entirely different matter. If Tsunade stepped down as Hokage, who would even take her place?

"Don't worry, kid. I've already got a replacement working as we speak, even approved by those annoying geezers of ours. He knows what he's doing," she waved him off as she produced a small bottle of sake. Surprisingly, she also had enough class today to bring a couple of glasses with her. "In the meantime, I'm going to catch up with this pervert with the best drink ever made."

"...Really? It's barely past seven," Naruto pointed out in disbelief.

She ignored him, popping open the bottle and filling each of the cups with the beverage. The retiring Hokage set one cup down closer to the memorial stone and lifted the other one as if she were giving a toast. "It's never too early for a drink between friends," Tsunade responded, obviously in too good of a mood to care.

The woman emptied her cup in an instant and Naruto figured he should probably leave before some sort of one-sided conversation was struck up. He'd already had his own with his mentor earlier and it was only right that he leave Jiraiya's teammate that privilege without interrupting. Still, it was a kind of hard to just walk away with what he'd just been told. The best thing he could do was trust Tsunade, but...he really wished this kind of thing hadn't been dropped on him so suddenly. While the person the council had approved to be her successor had to be good, this was definitely a change. He'd expected his favourite old hag to be the one sitting at the desk when he finally handed in the last of his paperwork. It was a little sad...

"For the record, I thought you were a pretty good Hokage, baa-chan," Naruto told her as he stood up, read to make his way home and get ready for the day. "Not as good as I'll be, but still pretty good."

She chuckled as she poured herself another cup, lifting the glass to her lips with a smile. "Get out of here, you little brat, or you're going to be late to work on your report."

"Sasuke doesn't have to write a report," he complained as he stalked off.

"Sasuke gave a verbal report. _You_ aren't under house arrest and are on active duty!" Tsunade shouted after him.

He took off through the trees, his feet pushing off branches with ease. It was early enough that he wasn't in any rush to get home. Plus, it was a nice morning and it gave him time to reflect on his conversation with Tsunade. She'd looked more relaxed sitting there with Jiraiya's memorial than he'd ever seen her. Her term as Hokage had been longer than his dad's and shorter than Sarutobi's, but she was definitely older when she'd taken up the position and had led the village through the biggest war in shinobi history. Naruto couldn't blame her for wanting a break. He hadn't thought she'd step down from being Hokage, but seeing how unburdened she looked today, she was certainly making the right choice.

Reaching his apartment, Naruto gave a quick wave to the ANBU with a creepy bird mask sitting outside his window. One of the conditions of Sasuke's release was that he was to be watched all day, every day by at least one member of ANBU. Seeing as the Uchiha was ridiculously powerful, the ANBU was there more for supervision than anything. Naruto didn't think anyone was stupid enough to think they could stop Sasuke if he really wanted to leave. Sai certainly wasn't, but he was extremely observant, which was probably why he was the one stationed here today. The mask was doing its job by covering up his face, but it wasn't exactly hard to tell who was under there.

Knowing his friend wouldn't respond while on duty, Naruto made his way inside to change and grab something to eat. Sasuke was sitting against the wall with his eyes closed in an uncomfortable-looking position in the corner, similar to where he'd been the night before. If he was sleeping, that was a good step forward. Naruto had gotten up a few times in the middle of the night himself because he was restless and found his friend simply staring out the window. He'd been staring out the window throughout their card games too. Naruto suspected it had something to do with being back in the village after so long. It hadn't changed a whole lot while he'd been gone, despite being rebuilt, but maybe that was what was so fascinating about it. This was the place Sasuke had abandoned when he was a child and now he had returned to it after so long as an actual citizen. The familiar surroundings would be strange to anyone who hadn't really had a home for the last five or so years.

"I've been getting ready for work and he hasn't stirred once," Sakura told him as she stepped up beside him. "I wonder how much he ever really got much sleep after he left. That doesn't look comfortable."

"It definitely doesn't," Naruto agreed, not vocalizing what he really thought, which was that Sasuke was finally around allies in a familiar place. The guy had dropped his guard whether he'd meant to or not and probably passed out on the floor as a result. Of course, that was just what he thought and there was really no point in trying to explain that to Sakura. She and Sasuke had their own relationship. Yeah... Instead, he followed up with a cheerful, "Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

She smiled at him, Sasuke effectively forgotten for now. "Good morning! Now, please tell me you have something other than ramen to eat in this place," she said hopefully as she tied her headband into place.

The grin he held on his face faltered. "Uh...I haven't exactly had the time to go grocery shopping."

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "You know what? I'm not even surprised," she stated, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "You still need to go to Hokage Tower today, right? We'll just pick something up on our way this morning."

Something other than ramen was actually appealing, since he'd been eating it way too frequently, even for his own tastes, since they'd gotten back from the war. Admittedly, after not having Ichiraku Ramen for so long, Naruto had gone a little crazy at the place. It was like making up for lost time, except he was making up for the loss of noodles that hadn't been in his belly. The miso had been even better than he remembered it.

Grabbing his usual shinobi attire for the day was more difficult than usual. Everyone had piled into his room last night to sleep, with the girls sharing his bed (on top of the fresh sheets that Sakura had demanded) and the males in a pile of blankets on the floor, and seeing as he'd only encountered Sakura out in the living room, Karin and Jūgo were probably still asleep. Anyone with training as a ninja was bound to be more alert and he really didn't want to wake them. Still, he needed to change, so he walked into the room as quietly as he could to snatch the clothes on top of his dresser.

Jūgo didn't even stir the entire time he was in the room, looking completely unguarded in his sleep the same way Sasuke had. Karin, however, was a different story.

"Hurry up and get out," she groaned, half her face smothered by a blanket. "Bringing your stupid, warm chakra back here woke me up."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Naruto grumbled irritably as he picked up his things. She was still a huge pain in the ass despite his hospitality, and even knowing she was a relative didn't quell his aggravation at her. It did, however, offer some strange sense of comfort whenever he thought he might be bickering with his _cousin._ The circumstances were odd, to say the least, but he wasn't going to question them.

It only took a few moments to change in the bathroom before he was off with Sakura across rooftops. They stopped at a bakery and his teammate was quick to take the lead in ordering, not at all minding. He'd barely spent any time alone with Sakura recently, and the last time he had, he'd been blubbering over Neji. Sasuke was his best friend because they understood each other better than anyone else in the world, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Sakura was the one who had always been around for him. Ever since he'd been a kid, he'd hoped to have a friendship (and more) with her; Naruto hadn't thought they would actually be this close. Sure, as a twelve-year-old, he'd dreamed of beating up Sasuke, sweeping Sakura into his arms with her adoring sigh of "Oh, Naruto!", but reality had occurred in very different way—a _better_ way. This was a bond he would fight for just as hard as he had fought for Sasuke's.

The realization of his near-confession weighed down on him slowly. He'd really almost confessed to her yesterday. Hell, Naruto figured he probably would have if Hinata hadn't shown up at that very second. Then last night had happened. Sakura had dropped out of the game to go sit with Sasuke, and while Naruto had the majority of his attention on draining Karin and Jūgo of their non-existent money, he had seen them out of the corner of his eye.

He'd never approved of the way Sasuke treated Sakura. No matter how much he loved his best friend, Sasuke had put her through so much heartache and emotional turmoil when she deserved to be treated like a queen. Naruto hated seeing her cry over Sasuke. He hated seeing her in so much _pain_ all the time.

Last night, though... Last night, there hadn't been any tears or yelling or hurtful words. They'd just been two people having a natural conversation. It was the first time he'd ever seen Sasuke be _receptive_ to Sakura. He was finally letting her in and that hurt Naruto as much as it made him happy.

Seeing the two of them getting along, with Sasuke finally giving her a little leeway into his heart, was all Naruto had ever wanted for Sakura. If being with Sasuke was what made her happy and Sasuke was finally letting her do that, then that was what should happen. But then...it made Naruto rethink his whole resolve to confess. He understood that Sakura had only ever wanted to protect him the way he wanted to protect her, and although he had been angry and hurt by the fake confession she had given to him months ago, he understood why she had done it. She'd been thinking about him, but if that were the case, what would she do if _he_ confessed? Rejection would hurt and that was something they both knew more than enough about, but Sakura was a healing soul and Naruto didn't want to put it on her to have to hurt him. He'd just screw up the relationship between all three of them again.

 _That's assuming she_ _ **does**_ _reject me,_ Naruto grumbled mentally. His confession hadn't even taken place yet; he didn't want to give up before it even began. But if she wanted to be with Sasuke...

"Naruto?"

He snapped out of his stupor in a daze, taking a moment to remember exactly where he was and what he was doing. The large steamed bun in Sakura's hand reminded him that he was supposed to be eating breakfast right now.

"Oh, thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said quickly, taking the food from her and digging in. Obviously it wasn't quite as good as ramen, but a pork bun was still pretty delicious.

She held out the new bag in her hand as well. "Here, I know one won't be enough so there are a few more in there, plus some bread and snacks for later."

"Thanks..." he repeated, a little dumbfounded as he accepted the bag.

"Now I've got to hurry to work and look at my patient list for the day, so don't you be late for a day when you actually woke up on time!" Sakura warned him with a smirk, leading him out of the bakery. "Thanks for letting me stay the night. See you sometime soon!"

Still eating, she jumped onto a roof and took off toward the hospital. Naruto was left staring at the bag in his hand. Again, she had been thinking about him, only taking one steamed bun for herself to eat and leaving the rest of the food with him and his crazy metabolism. It was perhaps even enough for lunch if he didn't eat anything else. Sakura...was always looking out for him.

He could shut his mouth and never say a word about his feelings again if he could have her like this for the rest of his life. She could be just his friend and teammate and be with someone else—the one who permanently occupied a space in her heart. She could be happy, and as long as she was happy, that would be enough.

* * *

"Oh son of—she just _dropped one!_ " Kiba yelled across the kitchen as he grabbed the bottle he'd just finished preparing off the counter while simultaneously covering his nose with his arm. The moment the unmistakable stench of human fecal matter hit his nose, the Inuzuka knew the kid they had volunteered for babysitting duty with had soiled her bottom.

Shino, who looked particularly strange holding a gurgling baby, held the infant at arm's length with a grimace. Akamaru was standing nearby, sniffing curiously at the baby's underside. "I think you're right."

"I remember Kurenai-sensei said there are some fresh diaper cloths under the sink," Hinata added, heading to the washroom. A few seconds later, her voice rang back, "I found them!"

The three of them gathered at the washroom sink. Hinata had laid down a towel on the table and Shino placed a displeased baby Mirai on her back. Team 8 exchanged a few looks.

"Alright, who knows how to change a diaper?" Kiba asked, staring pointedly at Hinata who was the only one out of the three of them who, having a younger sister, could possibly have any experience with babies. The only babies Kiba had ever been around were puppies and Shino had as much bedside manner as a swarm of wasps. With Hinata's gentle personality, he figured she probably would've been eager to help out with baby Hanabi when she was younger.

Unfortunately, the only potty-trained female in the room shook her head. "I...I don't. Father never allowed me to help with Hanabi's caretaking when I was a child. He said it was unbecoming of the heir to the Hyuuga clan," she replied, fidgeting apologetically.

Kiba's gaze was redirected to his other teammate.

"I have no experience in the matter," Shino said simply, "although I suspect it won't remain that way for long."

Hinata and Shino were staring at him now and the Inuzuka let out a long sigh. What the hell? Who thought it was a good idea to put _him_ in charge of cleaning up the baby? The only thing he knew about kids was not to drop them on their heads and that they were incredibly fragile. He much preferred dogs, who were feisty and playful as soon as they could walk. He wasn't sure if that was a betrayal to his species or what, but that was the truth.

"Guess I'm gonna have to do this then," Kiba declared as he rolled up his sleeves. His canine partner gave a bark of encouragement from the bathroom entrance. If there was one thing he knew he could pull off, it was cleaning up piles of poop. Living with more than a dozen dogs kind of forced you to adjust to that. All this was, really, was changing a crap-catcher. He could do that.

Kiba pulled down the infant's little pair of tights, trying to get a good idea of how the diaper was pinned at the sides. It didn't _look_ like the most complicated thing in the world. It probably didn't take a genius like Shikamaru to figure out how to keep the thing on.

"Okay, let's do this! You two get ready!" Kiba announced as he pinched the pins on the sides of the diapers. Mirai kicked her legs impatiently.

"Yes!" Hinata responded while Shino nodded in determination. It would take all of Team 8 to successfully pull this off.

The pins came loose and Kiba unfolded the diaper carefully, making sure to remember exactly how it was done up. Eventually, he made it to the mess, which wasn't nearly as bad as some of the things he'd had to clean up when his dogs were sick. This was actually pretty tame.

"I need a warm, damp towel," he instructed his teammates, which appeared by his side in an instant, courtesy of Shino. "Thanks!"

He lifted Mirai by the legs, figuring this was probably the simplest way to do it, and she thankfully didn't get fussy at him. Grabbing the towel, he wiped her front first, then moved to the back. He didn't know a whole lot about lady parts, but basic knowledge in hygiene told him that it was probably a bad idea to get fecal particles near them.

When all was clean, he held out the dirty diaper. "Clean one!"

"Got it!" Hinata exchanged the dirty cloth with a clean one and Kiba proceeded to put the new one into place.

And then Mirai giggled, deciding to let go of whatever was left in her bladder.

"Oh, what the fuck!" Kiba swore. This kid was devious! Even if she was only a few months old, she'd been smart enough to _wait_ until he got a clean cloth under her to soil that one as well!

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata admonished him.

"Oh come on, she fucking waited until I put a new one on!"

"I believe Hinata is referring to your foul language," Shino supplied unhelpfully.

"Just gimme another towel," Kiba groaned.

Luckily, Mirai seemed to have gotten it all out of her system, and after cleaning the area one more time, the rest of the process went smoothly. Kiba was pretty proud of his handiwork. Mirai seemed like a happy little camper when she was all dressed up again. Hinata volunteered to wash the dirty towels and cloths while the two men settled back on the couch to feed the child.

As Mirai sucked at her bottle, Kiba leaned back and ruffled the hair of his canine companion. Kiba had been a little restless lately with all missions currently being on hold. It was strange that the most dangerous thing he'd done in the last week was change an infant's diaper. Somehow, it felt like the world wasn't moving fast enough. One minute it'd been a war and the next it just _wasn't_ anymore. Sitting around and doing domestic duties was something he hadn't done since back in his genin days. Since then, he always figured life was going to be more or less the same, doing mission after mission and fighting for his home. Now, though, with an alliance between all the villages, Kiba had no clue about what to expect from the future.

"Where do you think we go from here?" he asked Shino as Mirai quietly drank from her bottle.

"You need to be more specific," Shino replied, not bothering to look over. Clearly he didn't understand that this was supposed to be a serious conversation.

"I mean what are we supposed to do with our _lives_ , Shino?" Kiba ranted in frustration. "It's all peaceful, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but didn't we train as shinobi because things _weren't_ peaceful? Aren't we kind of out of a job if there's nobody to fight against?"

The other male remained focused on the job at hand. "This depth of thought is uncommon for you."

Kiba growled, completely ignoring the jab since his friend was still not getting the point. "I'm _restless,_ okay? I can't just sit here being alright with the fact that I've spent my entire life trying to get stronger and that strength isn't even needed anymore. The world is at peace, Naruto and Sasuke are like _gods_ or something who can take care of anything, and our current primary day jobs consist of mourning and babysitting! My life _is_ being a ninja. What the hell do I do if I'm not doing that anymore?"

"Calm yourself, Kiba. Your life will not change so drastically," Shino assured him as he adjusted Mirai to burp her. Kiba absent-mindedly placed a small towel on his teammate's shoulder as he continued to stew. "Why you ask? Because the skills of shinobi will always be necessary."

The Inuzuka waited for his friend to elaborate, but Shino was either oblivious to that or he was keeping his mouth shut on purpose just to piss Kiba off. In the end, Kiba made a noise of frustration and palmed his face.

"Don't ever think about becoming a teacher. You'll just answer your own questions all the time and none of your students will ever understand what the hell you're talking about."

Mirai smacked her lips happily after she coughed out a little of the milk she'd been fed and Shino stood up to place the baby into her cradle. "Likewise. You'd be more obnoxious than the students," he shot back without missing a beat.

" _Seriously_ , Shino," Kiba groaned in exasperation.

Shino settled back down beside him, crossing his arms. "Peace is not a realistic concept, Kiba. Perhaps we claim that there's peace because our nations have reached a common ground, but nations are made up of people, and people are neither inherently good or evil," the Aburame explained sagely. "As there are those who bring kindness to others, there will always be those who commit crimes out of desperation, or those who kill for the sake of killing. This is why peace is not a realistic concept; it can never truly exist while human nature does. We will always need to fight because there will always be someone or something that needs protection."

There was a brief silence as Kiba took in his companion's words. Okay, so the guy had a point. Maybe he'd just felt too odd with how quiet things around the village had been recently. It was definitely comforting to know that he wasn't really out of a job, but, _man_ , going from the idea of peace to...well, _that_ , was pretty damn depressing.

"Way to bring down the mood even further," Kiba said, giving his friend a cordial smack on the back.

"I believe I was consoling you, actually. A proper 'thank you' would suffice."

"Yeah, only in your world would that be 'consoling'."

Before their snarky conversation could go any further, Hinata returned from the washroom and walked straight to the cradle. "Oh, is Mirai-chan done feeding already?"

"Credits to Shino," Kiba answered with a shrug. He watched the young woman stroke the baby's head as she smiled, making his lips crack upwards at the corners as well. Despite how little she knew about infants, Hinata was made for this kind of stuff. She had a nurturing personality that was ill-suited for a ninja and naturally gravitated towards taking care of others.

"Hinata, what are your plans for the future?" Shino asked bluntly while Kiba was instantly horrified. Honestly, Hinata never had much of an ambition as a ninja besides to be stronger and recognized by her family. Both of those things had been accomplished, and Kiba figured the next thing on the bucket list would be something like _"marry Naruto."_ Asking her that question was pretty much telling her to admit it out loud, and you didn't ask girls about their love lives. It was just a taboo subject coming from a guy's mouth.

"Well...I was thinking about learning a bit about politics," Hinata answered a little shyly.

Shino nodded, unfazed as Kiba turned his head in surprise. That was certainly not what he had been expecting. "Wait, wait, wait, _politics?_ As in you're gonna sit at a table with old farts and discuss dumb policies and stuff?"

She settled between them on the couch with a slight smile at Kiba's humour. "I'm hoping the matter of the Cage Seal doesn't qualify as 'dumb'," she replied.

"You're going to try and change your clan..." Kiba said in awe, more to himself than anyone. This confident Hinata was the woman he'd hoped he'd see ever since they'd been united as a team and she couldn't stop staring at the floor. He and Shino had never stopped encouraging her and it was the _greatest feeling_ to see that something had finally gotten through, even if it wasn't due to them. There was no way that even just before the war she would attempt something like this.

"My father accepts me, and Hanabi is finally starting to thanks to my training with Neji-niisan. I am heir to the Hyuuga clan, and I want to see to it that my sister's children are treated equally to my own," she stated, strength shining through her eyes like Kiba had never seen.

"Your decision is admirable, Hinata." Shino gave a nod of support, though he was definitely a lot prouder of her than he let on. Both he and Kiba had been waiting for this for a long time. There had been glimpses of this girl who had grown into her own during the war, but the follow through was finally here. It'd been a long, _long_ road.

"Yeah, quit it, Hinata. You're making us look bad," the Inuzuka teased her as he nudged her in the shoulder with a grin.

"What about you, Kiba-kun? What would you like to do in the future?" she asked in return.

Kiba thought for a moment. His childhood dream had always been to be Hokage. In all actuality, he probably still wouldn't mind being Hokage, but he certainly didn't envy Tsunade's job in dealing with all the other Hidden Villages. He also had zero patience for politics; maybe people didn't discuss matters quite so stupid, but it didn't change the whole long-winded discussions thing. Yeah, definitely not something he could ever see himself doing. Not to mention that he was _way_ outmatched in strength when it came to rivals like Naruto in that particular career choice.

"I think it'd be cool to become a jounin and instruct a genin team of my own," he responded with a shrug. "Yeah, I'd like having some brats look up to me when I'm older. But I think I'll stick to missions for now...whenever those start up again. You, Shino?"

"I would also like to advance to jounin and face greater challenges. The opportunity to travel during missions would also give me a chance to examine bug species in other lands," Shino remarked as he crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Planning the chuunin or jounin exams would be also somewhat of an intellectual intrigue."

"You would be good at that, Shino-kun," Hinata stated in support.

"You probably would be," Kiba agreed. He laid back with a lazy grin. "Man, look at us, planning our futures out. When did we grow up?"

"I fail to see how you've grown up at all," Shino pointed out.

"You asshole! I should—"

"Kiba-kun! Your language!"

"I rest my case."

Hinata held him back as he lunged toward his stoic teammate, hissing expletives even as he struggled against Hinata's arms. He could practically see the smirk on Shino's shielded lips and ignored the squeaks of placation the Hyuuga was issuing him. It had been five, almost six years since they had been first made a team. Kiba had known from the very beginning that they were going to be the best team ever. Today just reminded him that they really were.

* * *

The apartment was quiet when Sasuke woke up and he realized that Naruto and Sakura had probably already gone to work for the day. It even surprised him a little that he hadn't heard them or woken up at all during the night. He had grown into a light sleeper ever since his family had been massacred, even more so when he had been a missing-nin constantly looking over his shoulder. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a comfortably deep sleep. Certainly, there was a horrible crick in his neck as a result of sleeping on the floor against a wall, but knowing that he wasn't on the run from anyone and in an apartment with people he trusted had somehow lowered his state of alert. Even his stay in the dungeon, where he'd had his first bed in months, had been less restful. The silence throughout the place indicated that Karin and Jūgo possibly felt the same way. Maybe he was the first one awake after the events of last night.

Those events, admittedly, had been rather enjoyable. On his quest for vengeance, he'd forgotten what fun was, what socializing was, what some of the benefits of _friendship_ was. The smiles and the raucous voices were things he hadn't realized that he'd missed. They were things he could live without, yes, but they were also things that could make him happier. _Him._ Although he knew he had been selfish in his motives, everything he had done had been for the interest of others. Avenging his clan, avenging Itachi... He'd been seeking some sort of self-determined justice through punishing others instead of thinking about what it would be like to live a life for _himself._ Sasuke honestly couldn't figure out which was supposed to be more selfish.

Regardless, he had finally taken a turn down a different path. This one cherished bonds instead of shunning them, because even if it wasn't possible, he wanted the cycle of hatred to end with him. He was going to accept judgement for his actions rather than imposing it on others for theirs, and maybe, just maybe, he would be able to help someone other than himself. He was far from forgiving the elders of Konoha for their intentions towards his family, but this village was something his brother had treasured for his whole life. Neither could civilians be blamed for living there, though there might be poison at the top. Things had to change, a motion he was leaving for Kakashi and Naruto for now. It was clear now that before he could impose change on others, he had to change himself.

Sasuke stood, stretching out his sore neck and turned to the window, only to find the mask of a bird staring back at him from a tree a few meters away. He'd already known he was going to be watched by whatever was left of ANBU. They'd been extremely clear about the terms of his release. _"You will be watched every hour of the day. You and your comrades may not leave the apartment you're staying in. You will stay there until your sentencing. You want us to trust you? Prove you are worthy of trust."_

None of their demands were unreasonable, and as much as he hated listening to the scum that made up the Konoha council, he was taking the high road here. He had told Kakashi everything, and his former teacher had left Sasuke a with a cryptic message. _"Things are going to change, if I have anything to do with it,"_ he'd said, and that had been assurance enough that he was doing the right thing. Back then, Sarutobi had been the only one who had cared to cherish life instead of extinguishing it. Now, Sasuke _knew_ that there were people who wanted change just as much as he did. Naruto was on a fast track to becoming Hokage as he'd always dreamed of, and there was nobody Sasuke trusted more to execute that change.

He still didn't like being watched though, even if he accepted that it had to be done. If he wanted to, he could leave the village by force and nobody besides Naruto would have a chance at stopping him. The ANBU agent was just there to see if Sasuke was complying with his release terms, another way to test his trustworthiness. This guy in the bird mask, however, was someone Sasuke recognized...

The last Uchiha pulled the window open. "Hey. You." The man in the bird mask didn't move or seem to acknowledge that Sasuke was addressing him, but it was only right to assume that an ANBU would hear a message directed at him. "You're the one who replaced me on Team 7."

Again, the ANBU gave no indication of acknowledgement, but Sasuke knew he was right. An Uchiha's greatest trait was his eyes and they were trained to understand movement, even without the Sharingan. He could tell by the stature and the way this man carried himself that it was the same man who had, along with Naruto and Sakura, tried to capture him. Sasuke had also seen him during the war, helping the allies. He really had little knowledge of the man other than the fact that he was a decent ninja with a chronically exposed midriff.

To Sasuke's surprise, the man in the bird mask disappeared a second later, suddenly replaced with someone wearing a cat mask. The person of interest had been lost, so he closed the window and was about to look for something to eat when a knock at the door came.

Well, they'd only said he couldn't leave the apartment. They hadn't said anything about not answering doors.

Sasuke opened the door only to come face to face with the man who'd been watching him moments ago, except this time he didn't have a mask and the midriff, which had been covered by a standard ANBU outfit, was back to being exposed. He was a little caught off-guard by the friendly smile on the guy's face too. He often didn't care to draw impressions of people and was more interested in their intentions. Sasuke had to admit that he was getting a rather strong impression from this guy with the somewhat cheerful countenance the ANBU was wearing.

"Hello! I don't believe we've met. I'm Sai," the man greeted him politely, bowing as he did so.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he said in return, leaning against the doorframe. He had no idea what this Sai was doing, changing out of his ANBU getup to come talk with him, but Sasuke supposed that he'd been the one to start it. He hadn't expected the guy to come waltzing up to the door though.

"I was just wondering if my dickless friend was in. No? Ah, well, then as we are both his friends, I believe it is a customary practice that we get to know each other in his absence."

Sasuke stared at him blankly. Dickless?

"May I come in?"

His social awkwardness was shining through again. Sai was asking to come into an apartment that he didn't even own, but as it had been pointed out, they were both Naruto's friends. Even worse, he couldn't even remember the last time someone had asked him permission to come into a room. This was just...unusual.

Sasuke didn't let his uncertainty hinder him. He coolly stepped aside to let the guy in, that unsettling smile persisting.

"My shift at work just ended, but I had a feeling I should come visit Naruto," Sai explained, alluding to the fact that there was a different person spying on Sasuke through the window now. "Though I suspected he might not be here, I still wanted to drop by and meet this friend he was always talking about. Now that I'm here, we should have a chat, shouldn't we?"

He had asked for this. By simply addressing Sai out of curiosity, he had drawn the ANBU into the apartment within the next two minutes. Well, the guy was already here. Sasuke figured he might as well get some actual information out of this.

"You replaced me on Team 7," he echoed his earlier statement. There was little point in dancing around the topic; it was a waste of time.

Sai didn't even flinch and Sasuke concluded that this ninja was about as good at keeping a smile on his face as Sasuke was at keeping one off his own. "I did, briefly. Naruto and Sakura couldn't operate for this mission as a two-man cell, so Danzo sent me with them to kill you, as you probably already know."

Sasuke was silent. Yes, he knew that. It'd become rather obvious back then when Sai had attacked him. Of course, the whole plan had been foiled when their skills hadn't been able to match up to his own.

"I'd changed my mind, you know, about following Danzo's orders when I came after you because Naruto and Sakura believed so fiercely that you were a friend and not a traitor. I was simply going to help them bring you home," Sai continued, giving no indication of what he was trying to express. "You see, I was brought up to be emotionless, to crush everything I felt and be capable of killing my best friend. I couldn't be bound by bonds because it was a weakness. Compassion would hold me back from my mission. From what I've heard, I was close to what you wanted to be, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Don't pretend like you ever understood my intentions," Sasuke retorted, anger underlying his words. Sai might have a relationship with Naruto and Sakura, but that didn't mean he even remotely knew a thing about him. Nobody really understood the way Naruto did.

"I won't, but let me first tell you, this smile of mine isn't real. I wore it as a mask to disguise what Danzo had made me. But I don't need to wear it anymore." Sai's face fell for the first time in their conversation, a glare replacing the jovial expression that had been there. "There were two people who taught me that having compassion for others isn't wrong. They became my friends, and I have seen them hurt because of you time and time again."

Suddenly, Sasuke understood exactly what the relationship between Sai and the others in Team 7 was and why the ANBU was even standing here in this very room. In that instant, he saw the intentions he had been searching for in the man who used to let himself feel nothing.

"I know how foolish it would be for me to threaten you. I doubt I would last even last ten seconds in a fight against you and I do not intend to find out," Sai said seriously, black eyes connecting. "I would prefer to be friends, so I won't warn you; I'll tell you: do not cause my friends any more pain."

Sasuke could tell that Sai had been the one there to see all the damage that he had left his teammates with. He had already made up his mind days ago, when he was lying next to his best friend on the ground, that he would do everything he could never to hurt them again. They'd offered him forgiveness he didn't deserve and it showed that they hadn't changed. They were still the bleeding hearts they'd always been, but that was exactly how he'd gotten attached in the first place. They always cared way too much and Sai saw this too. It was amazing that this man had admitted just moments ago that he'd recently been someone who kept himself void of emotion, but was so passionately trying to protect his friends right now. He was proof of the change that Sasuke was looking for, the same kind of proof Sasuke was finding in himself because of Naruto. Perhaps this was what a world full of love could do.

"Naruto and Sakura showed you the value of friendship, did they? Then I suppose, as friends, we already have something in common," Sasuke stated, silently giving Sai his reply.

Sai's lips slid back into a smile, but this one wasn't cold and off-putting. This one wasn't a mask or a disguise. "I suppose we do."

* * *

He'd only been there to see his friend, and for some ulterior motives, of course, but only good ones. Instead he had stopped outside the room to just observe, letting himself indulge in nostalgia while he had time to. That would change very soon, but right now, he had the time to get lost in his own thoughts.

The door was open just a tad, enough that he could hear Sakura rattling off medical lingo faster than Gai could run a lap around the village. None of it made any sense to Kakashi, nor did he think it did to the patient he had come to visit either, yet she continued on as though it was normal, everyday speech. Beneath his mask, he tried not to snicker at the confusion on Yamato's face as he nodded in feigned comprehension.

It was strange to think that this pink-haired girl who used to gush over her crush was going to be his primary medical officer in the near future. Kakashi had always felt guilt in regards to some of his students. Sakura had always had a natural strength in genjutsu, and her chakra control was unparalleled. She had found her way into medicine on her own, but he wished he had capitalized on that genjutsu talent more. Maybe he could now. Although she'd never be able to match Sasuke's genetic ability in that area, the skill would make her an even more formidable kunoichi. He'd do it himself, if he could find time in the future. No—he'd _make_ time if she let him, because he hadn't given it to her in the past like he should have. He could clone himself for more menial tasks.

Kakashi reflected on his failures as a teacher. When he'd left ANBU and became a jounin instructor, he'd never expected to fall short of what his students needed so horribly when he finally passed a team. The idea of teamwork had gotten through to them, but it hadn't been enough for Sasuke. He hadn't been the one to get Sakura take her own training seriously, nor had he been involved in most of it. He had neglected Naruto's training to focus on Sasuke's, a blessing in disguise for Naruto, but a mistake on Kakashi's part, nonetheless. Even when Naruto had returned to Konoha, Kakashi hadn't been able to teach him wind ninjutsu the way Asuma could. He wished he had been more involved.

All three of them... Even without the powers of Asura and Indra, their skills had surpassed the previous generation at the measly age of seventeen and he hadn't been responsible for any of it.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're doing a very poor job of disguising your presence," Sakura commented as she continued to write on the chart she was holding. Yamato, however, looked at the door in surprise.

"I really have been out of the field for too long if I couldn't notice you standing there so obviously," Yamato sighed as he slumped back against the sheets.

"From what I've heard, that's certainly not your fault," Kakashi comforted his friend, stepping into the room with a wave. "Yo."

"I'm glad you're here, Kakashi-sensei. All the tests we've done on Yamato-taicho have had good results, so I can finally release him today. You can sign him out," the medic explained as she handed her pen and clipboard over to the jounin.

Kakashi obeyed, feeling almost like a child listening to the orders of his much younger student.

"I haven't been your captain in ages, Sakura," Yamato pointed out, "and I told you I was perfectly fine from the moment I had enough energy to leave the hospital."

"Force of habit," she replied with a shrug, not missing a beat with her stern demeanor, "and regardless, we needed to see if being absorbed by that clone had any negative consequences to your body. I'm not going to be responsible for you randomly dropping dead because I didn't run a few tests on you."

Yamato said nothing in return, settling for a slightly disgruntled expression instead while Kakashi handed the clipboard back with a nervous smile. This was definitely an argument he didn't want to get into the middle of, especially considering the temper of his pupil who had been trained by the equally as temperamental fifth Hokage. Sakura would probably have no problem leveling the entire hospital with her fist if she chose to.

As soon as Sakura had the clipboard back in her possession with Kakashi's signature on the release form, she smiled brightly. "Thanks! Good to see you, Kakashi-sensei. See you around, Yamato-taicho!"

The two males stared as she walked out, continuing to stare at the door even after she left.

"She's too smart for her own good," Yamato said forlornly, evidently defeated over the fact that his logic had been blown out of the water.

"She's too mature for her age," Kakashi corrected, still feeling like a child. He could handle Sakura anywhere else, but he felt considerably lacking in authority when their exchanges took place in Konoha's hospital. "They grow up so fast..."

The younger man laughed as he got out of the bed, walking over to the chair in the corner that held his standard uniform to put on his regular outfit. "You sound like a wistful father, Kakashi."

He shook his head. "There's no way any of them feel that way about me, but I guess that doesn't change the way I look at them."

"You were always a good teacher. There's never been someone I looked up to more."

"You were part of my team. They were my students."

Yamato sighed, zipping up his vest. "This visit isn't going to turn into some sort of pity party, is it?"

"No, of course not," Kakashi chuckled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Sorry. I'm just becoming overly aware of my shortcomings now that I have the time to think about them. You know I wouldn't be here just to sign your release papers."

"You certainly wouldn't be. If you just wanted to chat, you would've invited me out to lunch and made me wait an hour because you were 'pondering life's deepest questions' or something."

And that was precisely what would've happened. There were times that he used his notoriety of being late for very specific purposes, like seeing what his genin team would do while waiting for him, but during others when things were less important...he used his time to read that chapter of Icha Icha Paradise again since he scarcely had the free time to do so, or to spend a little more time finishing up a mission he was involved in. What most people didn't know about him was that he _liked_ the slower change of pace. Being a prodigy didn't net you any special treatment as a shinobi; all it meant was that you worked harder when you were younger. That didn't, in any way, mean that Kakashi resented the duties he'd been given in his youth, but he knew a life outside of fighting and killing and eventually the repetitions of missions like that, never ending, were...exhausting. Maybe he might be getting a ton of responsibility dumped on him right now, but there was a difference between having that responsibility during a war and having it when there was an alliance between all the villages. Things had slowed down. There was time to breathe. There was time to change things that he felt were wrong in the past.

"You know me too well, Tenzō," Kakashi conceded.

"I know what you've let me know," Yamato shot back as he placed his gear back into his pockets. "Now are you going to tell me what this is about or not?"

"I got a bit of a promotion...to Hokage," he answered, scratching his head nervously. He hadn't really told anyone yet and it was unusual to actually think that his new job was becoming a reality.

Yamato stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised they wanted you for it. You don't seem all that enthused though."

"It's not something I ever thought I'd do," the former ANBU explained. "Being Hokage was my teammate's dream, not mine. But speaking with him during the war, he's made me believe that I have the capacity to do what's right for Konoha and for the world. I might not make much of a change while I'm Hokage, but I can pave the way for people like Naruto who make change happen. This alliance is the first step to something great and I intend to keep leading us down that path."

Yamato smiled at him after a moment, walking over to give him a hearty slap on the back. "War changes all of us. On rare occasion, for the better. What do you need from me, Hokage-sama?"

Kakashi grinned at the jab. "Well, since you asked, I need my own second-in-command—someone I can trust implicitly. Maybe even someone who could lead the ANBU and is smart enough to be one of my advisors." He opened the door, heading out of the room. "Know anyone qualified that might be interested?"

Yamato followed him out with a smirk. "I might."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he stretched in his seat. Doing all this paperwork was _so boring._ He had finished his own account of what had occurred during the war, but corrections to the general report he had been given as well as his own additions to Sasuke's statements were also considered as part of his report. Basically, there was a ton of reading and writing happening, both things which Uzumaki Naruto was _not_ made for. He was being responsible, for the most part, but had also discovered that he could balance a pencil on his nose for three minutes and twenty-two seconds before he zoned out and started thinking about whether or not he looked as cool in a long jacket as his dad did, that one of the guards outside the door had really sore breasts because she was beginning her menstrual cycle for the month, and that the other had gotten drunk and made out with Kiba the second night back from the war.

In conclusion, Naruto had learned far too much today.

He shuffled the papers into neat piles and filed them away. He wasn't sure which was worse: the ceaseless paperwork or the conversations that had taken place between the two chūnin guards outside of the doors. Right now, there was nothing better than the fact that the day of work was over. There was some serious revamping to be done when he became Hokage.

Luckily, as Naruto left the room, the guards had changed and he didn't have to look at either of them knowing such intimate personal information. He let out a sigh has he closed the door behind him, spotting someone else he knew going down the hall.

"Sai!" he called, rushing over to greet his friend. After being alone in that room for pretty much the entire day, Naruto was relieved to get some sort of human interaction. Besides, it would be interesting to find out how Sai liked having to sit outside his apartment for the entire night just to make sure Sasuke wasn't up to anything.

Despite their rocky beginnings, Sai had become a friend he could really trust. Outside of Kakashi, there was nobody who really understood the complex relationship between himself, Sakura, and Sasuke, but Sai came pretty damn close. It was always rather surprising to accept that this man, the man who had zero understanding of emotions back when they'd first met, had been the one to vocalize the feelings behind Sakura's actions after she'd confessed. Naruto had also had to accept how ridiculously obvious his feelings for Sakura must be when Sai had so casually pointed them out.

"Oh, Naruto. Then I assume you are finished for the day," Sai replied, turning and slowing down to let Naruto catch up with him.

"The longest day ever," he grumbled. "If you ever have to listen to girls have a private conversation on a mission, don't do it. It's not worth it."

Sai shot him a questioning look and he simply shook his head. It was best not to spread his suffering.

"So what are you doing here so late? You can't be dropping off your report this late," Naruto stated, purposely being vague. Even though it was probably obvious to the majority of the Konoha 11 that Sai was part of ANBU, he couldn't just go around saying that.

"Maybe I was," Sai responded, chuckling. "I was surprisingly busy this afternoon. I managed to officially introduce myself to your friend Uchiha Sasuke."

There was a silence that followed, mostly because Naruto couldn't process exactly what a conversation between Sai and Sasuke was supposed to look like. All he could picture was a lot of...staring, or one-sided glaring if the artist started breaking out the insults. Still, the idea wasn't completely absurd, and if anything, it was nice that at least one of his friends was trying to give Sasuke a chance. Mostly everyone else was rather evasive when the topic of Sasuke came up. It was a given that everyone was grateful that he had helped save their lives, but he had also betrayed them, which had led to a lot of trouble for all of them.

"And, uh, how did that go?"

"I think we'll get along well. In fact, the reason I'm here so late is because I went to pick up some groceries at his request," Sai explained as they headed toward the exit of the building.

"Groceries? But I have lots of stuff to eat!" the sage reasoned in offense.

"I believe his exact words were 'all he has are these stupid noodles.'"

"Bastard," Naruto growled. Sasuke just had no appreciation for the greatness that was ramen. Every variation had its merits, including the instant ones. "I can't believe you agreed to go shopping for him."

"Well, he is the friend of my friends. I felt that I should make an effort," he said, filling Naruto with gratitude. It would do good for Sasuke to have more friends. Sai too. "I do admit, though, it's a bit sad."

"What is?" Naruto asked as they approached the door of the building's exit.

"No longer being a part of your team. I realize I was only a replacement for a while, but it was nice to be subject to such loyalty. You and Sakura never cared about what others said about Sasuke. Both of you tried to do what you could for him regardless of the label he was given as a traitor, and I thought it was simply illogical," Sai admitted as they left the tower. He paused in thought. "It's still quite illogical, but that passion is what made me understand emotion, so it will be sad to no longer be a part of that team."

The sage shook his head firmly. He wasn't really sure what to say for a lot of reasons. For one thing, he was really flattered by what that statement insinuated. On the other hand, he had never thought of his team being so fragmented that Sai had been a replacement for Sasuke. People could have said that all they wanted and it wouldn't make it true. Team 7 was Team 7. Team Yamato was Team Yamato. There were never any replacements, although he had protested to having another teammate in the first place. They were separate things to Naruto and they always would be.

"Nobody could ever replace Sasuke any more than someone could replace Shin. People can compare you two as much as they want, but that won't change," Naruto stated firmly, scratching the back of his head. Words weren't really his thing. They just kind of spilled out of him and he ended up antagonizing people on purpose. He could get away with that kind of thing when he was a stupid kid, but he was seventeen now. It was probably a good time to hone his future Hokage skills, starting with figuring out how not to shoot off things that could be interpreted as offensive from his blabbering mouth. He had as much of a learning curve as Sai did. "What I mean is...nobody's a replacement. If I had a choice, I definitely never would've accepted having a third teammate who wasn't Sasuke, but since I had to, I'm kind of glad it was you."

Sai chuckled. "Only 'kind of'? For a moment, I thought this might be turning into the type sentimental situation I've read so much about in books."

Naruto made a face. "I don't like you _that_ much," he replied.

"I understand. I can't compete with Sakura."

He swallowed, his shoulders raising unintentionally when he heard her name. He had thought about Sakura a lot today and he still couldn't figure out what he wanted to do. The more time that passed, the more time he gave Sakura and Sasuke's bond to develop, but if that was what she wanted, and that was what Sasuke wanted, who was he to interfere? Naruto was a man who primarily followed his heart and it had ultimately never led him astray. He understood more than anything what love was in that hospital room five years ago when he had forced himself to smile and promise the girl of his dreams that he would bring back the boy she loved. He would've done anything to put a smile back on her face back then, and he still would now. He just wanted to see her happy, because that was what love was.

"You're going to tell her now, aren't you?" Sai asked quietly, as if reading his mind.

Naruto was silent for a moment, uncertain of how he should answer. Was he going to tell her? "I'm thinking about it."

His answer was awarded with a long, stoic stare that looked so similar to Sasuke's trademark blank expression that it made him squirm. That look was uncanny.

Then Sai's lips curled up into a smile. A really, really creepy and rigid smile. "That sounds like something someone without a dick would say."

Immediately, Naruto's temper flared as he whirled on his friend and clutched his hands into fists. "I _HAVE_ A DICK!"

Their surroundings became oddly quiet as a nearby mother covered her child's ears and a group of young civilians began giggling at his proclamation. Naruto immediately blushed scarlet when he realized exactly what he had been shouting to the world. So much for developing more tact...

"Look, can we leave my dick out of this?" he hissed at the artist in embarrassed irritation. He could feel the heat creeping into the tips of his ears. "I thought we were done with that already."

"I thought you were pathetic when we first met, but I learned other things that changed my impression of you completely. Why is it that right now I'm getting that first impression again?" Sai retorted, who, surprisingly, looked equally as annoyed as Naruto felt.

"What are you talking about?" the Sage demanded.

"You, and this hesitancy to let Sakura know your feelings. It's foolish," the other male replied almost angrily, further firing Naruto up.

"It's not foolish of me to want to support my friends! You didn't see them last night—they looked _happy_ together. They can _be_ happy together. Enough has already happened. I don't need to get in the middle of this and make it difficult for them again!"

Sai shook his head in exasperation. "For two people who understand each other so well, it's amazing how much misguided protection there is between the both of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto grumbled stubbornly.

"Of course you don't, dickless."

He gritted his teeth, but didn't bite this time. "And for someone who didn't know a thing about feelings until recently, you seem to make a lot of commentary about others'."

"I think I've gotten good at it," Sai replied nonchalantly. "I've read a lot of books, but you and Sakura really put my knowledge to the test. I _don't_ understand. Isn't this behaviour completely contradictory to how you feel? Is this truly what your friends would want?"

He frowned. Of course he _thought_ this was what his friends would want. Well, Sasuke probably wouldn't have a real opinion on this, but he was trying his hardest to make things up to Sakura and being with Sasuke was something she'd wanted for years. To Naruto, this seemed like the best course of action for all three of them, especially when he considered Sakura's happiness.

However, Sai continued. "Would _you_ be happy leaving things the way they are? Sakura already knows how you feel about her, but doesn't she still deserve to hear it from you?" He paused, shooting Naruto a pointed look. "You, of all people, shouldn't be the one lying to himself."

Sai was clearly referring to the false confession that had taken place on the mountain, which wasn't necessarily the most pleasant memory he had of Sakura, but definitely an important one. Somewhere deep in his mind, he most certainly knew that Sakura was aware of his feelings, because if she hadn't been, she never would've tried to use emotional manipulation to bring his pursuit of their other teammate to a halt. That in itself was something that was painful to think about, but no matter how foul her actions had been that day, he knew she had only been doing it to protect him. To him, those intentions meant everything, especially when her heart was so consumed by Sasuke. That had been her taking on everything she could possibly shoulder, sacrificing her happiness for _him._

He turned his head as they walked, scowling because he didn't know how to counter Sai's reasoning. Backing off felt like the proper thing to do after he considered what he had seen last night, yet leaving his feelings hanging when they were already out in the open didn't seem fair to any of them. Maybe it'd be fine if his feelings for Sakura had just been a shallow crush born out of competition with Sasuke, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It'd be an insult to his character just to assume something like that. Of _course_ she deserved to hear the truth from him; that didn't make it the right thing to do. He wasn't lying to himself. At least, he didn't think he was.

"That being said, I believe I should warn you."

Naruto blinked. "About what?"

"Your tenants seemed rather set on cooking dinner tonight—"

Oh, well that was nice of them. That amusingly meant Sasuke had probably gotten roped into it too.

"—since Karin-san said she was going to throw out all your ramen."

His blood went from hot to cold in an instant. He grabbed onto Sai's arm in dead seriousness. "You're coming with me."

"Is that an invitation?" Sai asked, a little stunned. "I've read they're a bit more formal than that."

"I need backup," Naruto stated resolutely as he held a fist in the air and promptly ignored his friend. People could rearrange his furniture or rummage through his drawers all they wanted. He didn't care. But mess with his stash of ramen? _His_ ramen? His wondrous collection of flavour packets, cup noodles and instant packages? That crossed the line. Uzumaki Karin could not be forgiven for this.

* * *

She was exhausted as she stepped out of her last patient's room. Not so exhausted that she wanted to just keel over and sleep for a week like how she felt after the war was over, but more like she wanted to hide in her room and not talk to anyone for the next 24 hours.

"Forehead, you said you were getting off at four today. Why am I the one waiting for _you?_ "

No such luck. Sakura had almost forgotten that she'd made dinner plans with Ino tonight. They both settled on a late dinner since they were both working today, but Ino's shift was supposed to end at eight and her own at four. Glancing at the clock, it was a quarter past eight already. Great. Never a good idea to keep Ino waiting, as evident by the indignation in her voice.

"Sorry. Nishizawa-senpai wasn't feeling well, so I picked up a few of her patients too," Sakura apologized in resignation. She was too tired to argue with her best friend and it was true that her eight hour shift had turned into a twelve hour one instead.

"'A few'? _Right_." Ino snatched the chart tucked between her arm and flank before Sakura could even open her mouth to protest. She began flipping through the sheets of paper quickly like the nosy woman she was. "'A few' my ass. You took on her whole patient load! We just got back from a war, Sakura. Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I can handle a few more patients, Ino," she muttered, crossing her arms irritably.

"I swear, I'm going throttle you if you say 'a few' one more time. 'A few' is maybe an eighth of the names on Nishizawa's daysheet."

"Honestly, Pig, I'm tired and I don't have the energy to argue with you, so are we going to eat or what?"

She shot Ino her very best glare and her friend threw up her hands in frustration. "Fine, fine! We'll go to that restaurant by my parents' flower shop. But I'm keeping an eye on you, Haruno. You won't be picking up any extra shifts while I'm around."

Sakura rolled her eyes and their conversation turned into something much less professional with fewer threats as they headed to the restaurant, but her mind remained on the initial topic. Ino was right to be worried about her—not because she was trying to kill herself or anything, but she was ridiculously exhausted. Although the fighting was over, the war had come home with her. The hospital was overflowing with people and they had lost a number of capable medics during the war. They had more regular doctors right now than actual trained field medics, which certainly wasn't a bad thing; it was just that field medics had far more stamina and chakra than those who had less battle training. With the ratio of patients to healers so high, they needed a lot more field medics than they currently had. Naturally, she had taken on a lot of extra patients since she could deal with cases more quickly and use less chakra than her peers. That wasn't really something to brag about; it just came with being the Hokage's apprentice.

Besides, it was kind of nice to have something to focus on rather than sitting around with her thoughts and feelings. Right about now, when it came to anything romantic, she wanted nothing to do with it. She wasn't just overworked from taking on too may shifts at the hospital, but she was emotionally ragged too. She'd worried about her teammates coming back alive, worried about how Sasuke would reintegrate himself back into Konoha, worried about if the dreams had changed her friends, worried about the people she couldn't save, and worried about how hard it had been to walk away from Naruto when Hinata had shown up yesterday... Basically, she was worried about a million things and she was sick of thinking about all of it. Work and sleep. Those were the activities that helped right now considering they left her little time to ponder her own feelings on pretty much anything.

Dinner with Ino? Sakura loved her friend, but definitely not one of those activities.

As soon as they were settled in at the restaurant and their orders had been taken, Ino launched into her usual gossip. With things so heavy at home, Sakura suspected that gossip was probably comforting to her friend. Apparently, Kiba had dragged Shino and Chouji out to a party shortly after they'd arrived back and went a little wild by getting drunk and making out with four different girls. In addition to that, Shikamaru was, by Ino's account, the most adorable uncle when it came to Mirai, which Sakura could believe but had difficulty imagining. The guy was so aloof all the time that the image of a little baby in his arms was boggling.

"And a little bird told me you spent the night at Naruto's," Ino said, her smirk suggestive.

Sakura let out a sigh at her friend's insinuation. "Yes, I did, with Sasuke and his teammates from his self-made band of Orochimaru's other victims."

"Oh," Ino replied, straightening herself in surprise. There was nothing scandalous about her tone anymore. "I didn't know they'd been released."

She nodded. "House arrest, at least until the higher-ups and Tsunade-shishou figure out what to do with him. Everyone is well aware that a dungeon wouldn't make any difference if he wanted to escape."

"Right, and Naruto is probably the best person to look after him," the Yamanaka concluded on her own. "Then what? Did you finally make a move on Sasuke?"

 _Jeez, she's almost as bad as Karin_ , Sakura thought to herself crossly. On second thought, at least Ino was actually one of her closest friends and not Naruto's long lost cousin who she barely knew. "Ino, I did not make a move on Sasuke. He's not even interested," she answered, somewhat annoyed that she had been roped into thinking about something she had been avoiding. Sasuke had made it clear how interested he was in her. Regarding friendship, the level was getting a little higher, but romantically, she was rather certain he never had any interest at all. "Besides, even if he were interested, I don't think I would be."

"You don't love him anymore?" Ino asked just as the food came, a bowl of rice and salmon placed in front of her.

Instead of dreading the rest of the conversation, Sakura resigned herself to it. There was no point in trying to protest every inquiry that had to do with her feelings, especially since it was Ino asking the questions. It might actually be nice to get some of these things off her chest. "Of course I love him. Just...I don't know, maybe not like _that_ anymore. I don't want to be _with_ _him_ anymore."

"Since when?" the other female prodded.

She shrugged. "Since a long time, I think. I was only being selfish when I asked Naruto to bring him home, but somewhere along the way, I stopped wanting him home just for myself. I wanted him back for Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei, and all I wanted was to see my team whole again." Even as the words came out of her mouth, it was almost as if she was figuring these things out for the first time. Somehow, it was easier to make sense of her feelings when she was forced to vocalize them to someone else. Sakura took a sip of tea and continued. "I've always thought of Sasuke-kun as the man I love, but I barely know a thing about him. I'm not even the one who understands him. It's like I have all these feelings for an idea of him that's in my head."

Ino sighed heavily and shoved a bunch of rice solemnly into her mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly. "It's not like I can judge. I know even less of him than you do. At least you two were on the same team."

"You can get to know him now," Sakura suggested. She'd always known that Ino still had feelings for Sasuke over the years, considering her strongly emotional reaction to the order that Sasuke be killed on sight. Who knew? Maybe they'd make a good couple.

"I've got better things to do than worry about boys," Ino replied in a haughty tone that made Sakura grin. "We were naive to think we could change him."

"Yeah... Naruto is the only one who could ever get through to him." She couldn't help but silently break into a smile at the thought of the teammate she used to think was pathetic. She didn't know what she'd do without him. "I'm pretty sure the word 'impossible' doesn't apply to him."

Ino stared at her strangely. "Sakura..."

"Huh?"

"Are you in love with _Naruto?_ "

She nearly spat out her tea at that question and ended up choking on it instead. "W- _what?_ No!"

Ino, however, looked completely sober as she dropped her chopsticks. "Sakura, I'm seriously asking you, are you in love with Naruto?"

Sakura knew she could not lie to Ino about this, and that meant she had to really acknowledge how she felt about Naruto. It had started with the deep respect that she had gained for him when Team 7 had still been together and only continued to grow when she realized all the things he did to try and make her happy. He was so fiercely loyal to his friends, more empathetic than she thought anyone could be, and on top of it all, he was always, _always_ there when she needed him. One day she had found that she wanted to make _him_ happy and protect him with everything she had. When he'd been on the brink of death during the war, she could say all that effort was because the world needed him, or because he was her teammate, or because was her closest friend and they'd all be true, but the part of her that kept her pushing through the hopelessness and fatigue was motivated by how much she needed him. The thought of losing his smile and strength and idiocy was so unbearable she'd had to shove aside her emotions as she administered CPR, but she remembered the fleeting whispers in her mind that told her she didn't care if the world ended if Naruto wasn't there with her.

She couldn't blame the throbbing of her heart on just possessiveness when she thought about Hinata's feelings for him either. The Hyuuga had thrown herself in front of Pein in Naruto's defense just to confess before certain death. For some reason, knowing that her friend loved Naruto so much didn't make her feel happy for him as it should've. Knowing that just _hurt_. It hurt just as much as it did when she'd walked away from the two of them yesterday. That pain wasn't a platonic feeling and it was impossible to deny any longer.

"Yes," Sakura breathed quietly, "I'm in love with Naruto."

Ino's hands shot over and grabbed hers, green eyes brightening. "Sakura! I'm so happy for you! Everyone knows how Naruto feels about you!"

The corner of her lip twitched because yes, everyone _did_ know how Naruto felt about her. They might think it was a crush, but she knew better. Sakura knew _much_ better. Some part of her twelve-year-old self knew that Naruto loved her, but she hadn't been able to wrap her head around it until Sai basically shouted it at her. And much like knowing Hinata's feelings had hurt her, knowing Naruto's feelings hurt her too.

For some reason, love always hurt her. Her love for Sasuke had never brought her anything but pain, and all she could think about when it came to Naruto's love for her was how much she pain she'd caused _him_. It was her fault that he'd made that stupid promise in the first place and was always jumping in to protect her. After all they'd been through during the war, she felt she could get past all of that, but...

"Ino, I'm not going to tell him."

Sakura's hands thumped against the table as they were unceremoniously dropped by her best friend, whose expression was almost offended. She withdrew her hands with a frown.

"Are you kidding me?" Ino demanded in outrage. "You just told me that you're in love with a guy who's clearly in love with you! And I'm not even _jealous_ for once! What could possibly be holding you back from having a relationship with this _awesome guy_ who just saved the world?"

She palmed her forehead with a loud sigh. She could forgive herself for all those times she'd hurt Naruto because she cared for him so beyond herself, but it wasn't only their feelings she had to take into consideration, and that was what made this hard. "Hinata."

Ino just stared at her incredulously. Sakura rushed to explain herself.

"You know how much she loves him and for how long!" she blurted out, trying to clarify her logic. "I can't just come in and ruin that! She's my friend! It'd...it'd make me a horrible woman!"

The blonde crossed her arms and shot Sakura the most frustrated look any person could possibly muster. "Forehead, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life."

"Ino!"

"What you're telling me is that you're willing to sacrifice _your_ happiness, and probably _Naruto's_ happiness just because Hinata's your friend?" Ino hissed, very obviously trying not to make a scene in the restaurant, although a few customers were already glancing in their direction. "What are you going to do? Ignore your own feelings and try to force them together? Wait until she knits him an 'I love you' scarf and he accepts it?"

Sakura felt multiple sets of eyes on them and sank lower into her seat. How embarrassing. "Talk louder, Pig. It's really helpful."

The other woman groaned in agitation. "Are you even listening to me?" she asked in exasperation. "Even if you do step aside for her, you can't make Naruto fall in love with her. Sure, maybe he could, but if he doesn't? Then everyone loses. You both love him; shouldn't he get a say in who he wants to be with?"

Sakura swallowed. She hadn't meant to try and make that decision for him, but still, she couldn't just act without consideration of her friend's feelings. "And what if he does want to be with me? What about Hinata?" she retorted in a hushed tone, throat tight.

"Hinata will get over it," Ino stated like it was a fact, "because if she really loves him, then she'll want him to be happy. And Sakura, he _will_ be happy with you."

And just like that, her argument lay in shambles. Sakura couldn't say anything in return, yet somehow, it still felt selfish to let herself be honest.

"Hinata's my friend too, but I don't want to see you do something you'll regret," Ino finished, the passion she felt on this subject clear. "You deserve to be happy too."

The anxiety was still there and she still had no idea what to do, but Sakura was suddenly glad to be sitting in this restaurant with the girl who had placed that ribbon in her hair so long ago. The sentiment was breaking through the exhaustion and unease of her situation as her face split into a grin. "Pig, you're the best friend a girl could have."

Ino flipped her ponytail back arrogantly with a smirk. "And don't you forget it, Forehead."


	3. Part III

**Author's Note:** I think it is absolutely hilarious that this chapter ended up being ready on Valentine's Day. Personally, I don't really care for the "holiday," but whether you do or don't, great NaruSaku is still great NaruSaku. This chapter is absolutely all Team 7. I really felt like this was the ending they should have had instead of being reduced to just marketing tools (to put it lightly).

Thanks to all who reviewed! And, of course, thank you to my Chief Beta Reader Extraordinaire, **Irradiance**! Trolls, please find a better use of your time. :)

* * *

 _ **Lifting the Dream**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Part III of III**

 ** _"If you don't like your destiny, don't accept it. Instead, have the courage to change it the way you want it to be!"_**

* * *

The first thing thought Sasuke had when he woke up was that he was really, really hungry. He groaned, pushing himself up with his one arm. This time, Naruto had thought to set up a futon for him in the front room when it became clear that he wasn't going to join the other males on the floor of the bedroom. Sleeping in a group when they were camping outside with someone standing watch was one thing, but when they were in an apartment, Sasuke wanted to sleep on his own. It was just a preference, especially when Karin would be in the same room and would probably be inviting him up onto the bed for the entire night if she had the opportunity.

His second night of house arrest had been equally as chaotic as the first—possibly even more so. Karin had very violently stashed all of Naruto's ramen into a garbage bag once she'd found out they were all expired (after they all had some for lunch, of course), then had thrown the bag out the window in her disgust. Even Sasuke found that a little bit disturbing. Instant noodles had fairly long expiration dates, and the fact that all of them had been overdue meant that Naruto hadn't gone shopping in a really long time. Sai had been gracious enough to purchase groceries for them and Karin, in all her confidence, had declared that she was going to cook for them before proceeding to burn anything she put on the stove.

Jūgo had pretty well saved them all from starving since he was the only one out of them all who actually knew how to cook. He had made a meal for them with the remaining food when Naruto pretty much bursted through the door in a rage with a very amused-looking Sai behind him. Of course, a fight broke out between the two with roots from Whirlpool country and the little food they had was split between five people. Sasuke went to sleep with his stomach somewhat unsatisfied, resigned to a future where his friends would always be yelling at each other and his food would constantly be burnt. At this point, elevated stress levels because of these two seemed to be inevitable.

His stomach growled as he sat up in the futon. Damn it.

"You're up early today," Naruto commented from the door, looking exhausted and disheveled. Sasuke smirked at his appearance.

"Rough night?" he asked, snickering.

"Karin kicked me in the face from on top of the bed. How does that even work?" the Uzumaki grumbled as he sat down on the futon next to Sasuke, handing him a steamed bun.

Sasuke didn't let the relief of being given food show on his face, but yes. "I can't believe you have something other than ramen for breakfast."

"Well, I don't have any more ramen, thanks to my evil cousin. It was only overdue by a few months," the other male muttered, taking a vicious bite out of his bun as he thought of his beloved noodles. "And I don't actually have other food. Sakura-chan bought this stuff for us yesterday and I just didn't eat all of it. I think there's one left that Jūgo can have." His expression darkened. "But Karin can starve."

 _And I'm pretty sure you and your cousin are both twelve,_ Sasuke thought as he ate.

There was a gap of silence between them, but it was comfortable. It was strange how they had been separated for so long, yet still retained the same bond that Sasuke had once felt plagued by. Then again, Naruto just had that quality that set you at ease, regardless of whether you were friends or rivals. The guy could carry on a conversation by himself if he wanted to.

"So...got any plans today?" Naruto asked casually. He clearly hadn't thought this through. Sasuke sent him a look. "Oh, uh, right... I don't know how you can stay in here all day. I'd go crazy. What is there to do, even?"

The Uchiha continued eating. He was not a restless person unless it came to the irrational urge for revenge. Most of the time, he kept to himself. Before, that had been to observe and think and plan; now he spent a lot of his silence on reflection. What had he done? Why had he done it? Would he do the same thing knowing what he knew now? There were a lot of things to consider, and he had spent a long time away. He often found himself wondering what Naruto would have done in those same situations, or if he would have encountered those in the first place. In short, he had a lot of things to ruminate about and he didn't have a problem doing pretty much only that.

"Think—" was Sasuke's short reply, "—something we both know you're incapable of."

"Bastard," Naruto muttered, but recovered quickly. His head fell back against the wall. "I wonder what kind of sentence they're going to give you. They can't keep you in here for the rest of your life."

"They can and they will if they want to. Use your logic. I have power that can't be stopped by anybody but you. I'm less likely to make a move during the day when visibility is good, and even if I did attempt something, you'd be alert and ready to move on me in an instant. At night, stealth is easier to come by, and you're here all night to shut me down if I try something. It's easy to understand how this works," Sasuke explained, having known this since the moment he was let out of the dungeons. He was far from stupid and Naruto was just too optimistic to notice what was really going on. Stone walls and metal bars weren't going to stop a man with Indra's power; only an equal, like someone with Asura's power, could hope to do a thing.

The higher ups were playing games with the public, pretending like it was charity when it was really the safest move for them. Sasuke himself barely got a reason for his release. All he was told was that he was getting placed under house arrest until his sentence was decided, and then he was escorted to Naruto's house since Naruto had volunteered to put him up along with Karin and Jūgo while they looked for another place to stay. Really, who else would it have been? The move looked good to the public since he'd had a major hand in thwarting the Infinite Tsukuyomi and people didn't believe he should be in a dungeon, at the very least. He was smarter, though, and he could see right through whatever image they were trying to portray.

"I wouldn't try to stop you," Naruto told him seriously, clearly thinking back to the day they'd been lying side by side bleeding out on the ground, "not this time. We both know there's a reason you're still here."

He snickered. Naruto understood him too well. Having his entire clan slaughtered when he was nine had turned him into a cynic and had him focused on what the Konoha council was trying to show the public because they thought he was a flight risk; Naruto didn't even bother thinking about it because there was no point when he knew that wasn't the case.

"Maybe."

Naruto groaned in annoyance. "You still piss me off. Come _on_. You're still here and you're doing everything those stuffy geezers on the council tell you to. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have some idea of what you'd be doing in the future."

"I'm living my future," Sasuke corrected him casually. He hadn't let himself think of a future outside of some sort of shackles, not had he ever needed to think about it. His life had been a road of revenge and to him, it hadn't mattered what would happen outside of accomplishing what he set out to do. Beyond that, there was nothing. Though that was no longer his major goal, there was another one to achieve. "You of all people understand that sometimes change needs to happen one person at a time."

"Quit acting so cool," the other male complained after a moment. "There aren't any girls around to see."

"Better than acting like a loser all the time," the Uchiha shot back with no real malice.

Naruto's expression went sour, but before he could respond, there was a knock at the door. Instead, he stood up to go answer it. Sasuke didn't bother craning his neck to see who it was as the door opened, finishing up the rest of his breakfast. Today didn't seem like it was going to be very eventful. It was unlikely that Sai would come by out of uniform, although he hopefully would. If they'd truly run out of food, Karin was going to raise hell. _Someone_ was going to have to do a grocery run for them today. On top of being crazy when she was hungry, she was even worse when she was bored, and if he was going to be stuck indoors with her all day, _he_ was the one who needed sustenance. Dealing with loud females on an empty stomach was something even he didn't want to attempt.

"Thanks," he heard Naruto say, the door closing. A second later, Naruto was sitting back down on the futon with an opened scroll, reading.

"Important?" Sasuke asked as he glanced out the window. Hn. Nice day. Might be enjoyable to be outside.

"Uh, well, it says the Hokage wants to see you this afternoon, so probably."

Sasuke turned to look at his friend, masking his surprise. The only reason the Hokage could be requesting an audience with him was to deliver his sentence. He'd only been released from the prison a couple of days ago. That meant there had been a unanimous decision between whoever had decided his fate. Repentance and change were waiting.

"It looks like she wants to see me too," Naruto added, looking confused, "after she meets with you. I hope it's not about my report. I never want to see that thing again."

Sasuke sighed. How was this guy ever going to be Hokage when he couldn't see where this was going? The fact that they wanted to consult with Naruto so shortly after giving him his sentence meant that there was never going to be any semblance of trust between him and Konoha again. If there was no leeway on their part, he couldn't offer any in return. He would take responsibility for his actions and he would be considered a citizen, but that would be the extent of his relationship with this village. Yes, his clan had done wrong and had been planning a coup, but it was war that had been favoured after slaughter when it came to dealing with the Uchiha family. Words had had so little value. "It's not about your report, you idiot. They're going to ask you to be my keeper for the rest of your life."

"No," Naruto replied in confidence, "they're not going to do that. You helped save everyone and you came back here to own up to your mistakes even though you didn't have to. They're going to give you a second chance. Baa-chan would've fought for it. I know it."

"And if they don't?" Sasuke retorted, a little annoyed by his friend's optimism.

"Then _I'll_ fight for it," he stated firmly. "It's been five years. I haven't given up on you yet, have I?"

A hint of a smirk cracked the stoic line of Sasuke's lips. It was true. This stupid guy had never given up on him, regardless of the circumstances. "It just proves how thick your head is."

Naruto ignored his quip entirely, blue eyes fiercely meeting black. "You know I won't give up on you. We're friends."

"Not friends," Sasuke corrected him, because no matter how much he had tried to push them away, he had never been able to see Team 7 as just friends—especially not the loud-mouthed idiot he had developed a such an intense rivalry with. It had been impossible to shake that bond, despite shutting out every emotion he could. There was only one word that could describe a connection like that, one that Sasuke thought he'd never have again, once upon a time. "Brothers."

* * *

"Haruno-senpai, do you have time to consult on my patient later?"

"I can glance over the chart on my lunch break."

The question came as she was cleaning up after a long morning surgery and she couldn't say no to a medical challenge that only, other than herself, Tsunade would be able to puzzle out, and so there went her lunch break. In fact, she couldn't remember the last day she'd actually had a lunch break. The days were different, but they all blended together for her. Being so short-staffed meant Sakura had picked up extra shifts at the hospital almost every day, and generally, her remaining waking hours were spent training to prevent deconditioning. "Peace" did not mean that she shouldn't continue working to be strong, nor did she believe she would be able to put her field days to rest. The shadow over the world had been lifted, but it was still a dangerous place.

After washing her hands and her face, Sakura redid the clip in her hair holding it back. Her hair was the longest it had been since she cut it in the Forest of Doom, only having grown it so long because of a rumour that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. Just thinking about that now was enough to make her break into a huge grin because it was so ridiculous. She wondered who had made up that rumour in the first place.

She hadn't cut it this time, more out of laziness than anything. She kept it short for convenience's sake since first cutting it, but she was gaining fondness for a little length again. It wasn't proving a hassle in battle and she liked the way it looked, so why not? It certainly wouldn't be for Sasuke this time.

The whole thing seemed so long ago. Sakura could hardly believe how much she had grown up since then. She certainly hadn't believed she could be one of the top doctors in Konoha at only seventeen. Sometimes she felt more like an adult than she wanted to be at this point in her life, especially when virtually all her seniors were constantly looking up to her for medical advice or she was taking charge of those who used to train her. It felt like her youth was melting away with every moment. She loved her job and she loved to help others, but lately, there were just too many things on her mind and work felt more like a weight than anything. All those questions surrounding her personal life were overwhelming. Sakura felt like she should be happier than she _was_.

She hated to think that it had to do with her love life. After Sasuke, she never wanted to pine after a man again and it irritated her that somehow she was. Her conversation with Ino had helped, but thinking about what could have or might be transpiring between Naruto and Hinata truly was a presence in the back of her mind, whether she wanted it to be or not. She was trying to push the whole thing out of her mind and failing miserably.

Sakura picked up the chart next to her, looking down the list. There were still quite a few patients to go before she completed her rounds for the day. She'd get off at four today if she could complete them all before her shift ended. True to her word, Ino had prevented her from taking on yet another extra shift today and this was actually the least busy she'd been since getting back from Konoha. Maybe she could go to Naruto's later and see how everyone was faring.

She left the prep room only to come face to face with one of the nurses, who was smirking like someone who had just gotten really, really good blackmail material.

"Ah, Haruno-senpai, I've been waiting for you to get out of surgery. There's someone here to see you," the nurse relayed smugly as she waved her hand towards the lobby of the floor. "Have fun!"

She sauntered off immediately afterwards, likely to go spread rumours to the rest of the medical staff. Sakura sighed, unable to muster up any other emotion than resignation at her antics. She could spare a few moments for whoever was here to see her. It wouldn't change anything about her day.

Rounding the hallway into the waiting area, she was shocked to see Naruto standing there in his usual battle wear, adorned with cloak and all. Sakura was immediately reminded of how the identity of his father had been revealed to be the fourth Hokage. The similarities were uncanny, especially with his hair growing out and that cloak over his shoulders. It made her wonder how nobody had seen it before. It was also, admittedly, a very good look for him.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" she asked as she heard giggles from the other side of the room. Suddenly, she was highly aware of all the eyes that were on them—or more specifically, on Naruto. She wasn't blind to the hero worship he was getting from a portion of the population now.

"Aw, come on, Sakura-chan, not even a greeting?" he pouted, and Sakura reminded herself that although he might _look_ handsome, he was very capable of acting like he was five if he wanted to.

She smiled at his childishness. "Sorry. It's been a busy morning."

"It's _always_ a busy morning for you. That nurse told me you were in surgery earlier," Naruto replied in admiration. "Sometimes I forget that you're the most amazing doctor in the world."

"I still have a lot to learn from Tsunade-shishou," Sakura waved him off modestly. Of course she was good, but she would never credit herself with being more skilled in the medical field than the kunoichi of the legendary sannin, Senju Tsunade. She wasn't by any means that full of herself.

She frowned, a thought coming to her abruptly. Why would Naruto be bringing that up to her? Unless he was trying to butter her up for some reason.

Sakura stepped forward, clutching his shoulders and giving him a once over as he stared at her in stunned bewilderment. "You didn't do something stupid and hurt yourself, did you? That time you were helping with reconstruction, you hammered that nail right through your foot. I thought you'd have figured out _how_ to use a hammer by now, but I can't put it past you to—"

"Sakura-chan!" She found herself shoved back by her own shoulders. "I'm not here because I'm bleeding! I just wanted to bring you breakfast. Or a snack. Or a second breakfast if you need one."

He let go of her and lifted the bag up for her to see and she stared at it for a moment, dumbfounded. That...didn't really seem like the direction that conversation had been heading.

Naruto began to blush under her gaze. "Uhm, I mean, it's 'cause you got so much yesterday and gave it all to me, so I thought I'd get you something to eat since you're busy all the time."

Wordlessly, Sakura accepted the bag from him, peeking inside. She could see a small container inside, but its contents weren't visible. It didn't need to be. She could tell what it was by the distinct smell. "Dumplings..." she said, mostly to herself. The medic glanced up at him curiously. "They're red bean?"

He shot her a quizzical look. "Of course they are. I wouldn't get you something like spicy pork dumplings. You'd hate it and force yourself to eat it anyway just to be nice."

Sakura laughed because he was completely right. She would definitely eat something she didn't like if someone had given it to her as a gift. He knew her too well. How she liked her sweets, how she could skip meals if she were preoccupied, how she reacted when someone gave something to her... He made it seem like he was just returning the favour from yesterday, but it didn't feel like that at all to her. This was too personal to be a favour.

"Thank you..."

Naruto grinned. "No need to thank me. I wanted to! You've been working really hard," he commented, seemingly a little embarrassed by her genuine gratitude, but his expression was brighter than it was outside. "I finished my report, so I have the day off! Wanna blow off some steam later and do some training with me?"

Busting up rocks with her closest friend or running laps around Konoha alone with her thoughts? It was an easy decision. It also sounded very much like something that would be good for her mood. Amidst all this emotion and drama she was making for herself, she needed the reminder that Naruto was still her friend. There was a reason they knew each other so well. They had spent countless hours together over the last few years, laughing and chatting with him being an idiot and her calling him an idiot. They were so _happy_ together. In those moments, sometimes she forgot everything that was wrong with the world.

...She didn't need romance; all she needed was her friend.

"Meet me at the entrance of the hospital. I'm off at four," Sakura answered eagerly. "Remember, you asked for it, so don't start whining when I kick your ass!"

"But I'm good at whining!" he responded, jokingly proving his point as he turned to leave with a wave. "I'll see you later, Sakura-chan!"

He hopped out the nearest window, which was common for the impatient ones like Naruto, and Sakura smiled as she walked over to the reception desk where the giggling by her coworkers was still ongoing. She ignored it, opening the container of dumplings and popping one in her mouth as she skimmed over the chart of her next patient, feeling considerably better.

She'd been wrong. Everything about her day had changed and she didn't mind at all.

* * *

His first day off after finishing his report was filled with things he wanted to do. He was off to a good start, having been assured that Sasuke wouldn't get too bored in the apartment today. Now that he had succeeded in getting some delicious food to Sakura and recruited her as a training partner for the afternoon. Next on the list? Visit someone he hadn't seen for quite a while, the first person who had truly believed in him.

Naruto landed on the roof of the academy, looking down to inspect the young ninjas in the training yard. A session of target practice on the trees was going on and most of the kids in this class were almost decent at it, probably only around ten or eleven years old. He also noted that there were less children in the yard than there would normally be in a regular class. It confused him until he really considered the situation in that the war had only ended a little over a week ago. Life had essentially returned to normal for most people, but others still didn't feel secure enough to let their children go yet. Eventually, Naruto was certain that things would return to the way they were, but for now, they could only continue doing what they were doing until everyone else followed suit.

With the kids still hard at their training, Naruto dropped down next to his old teacher with a grin. "Hey, Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto!" the chūnnin greeted him, beaming. Iruka didn't hesitate to draw him into a quick hug before launching into conversation. "I haven't seen you since the war ended, and that was only to watch honouring ceremony! How are you?"

"Busy, but good. I've been helping Tsunade-baachan with the most boring paperwork in the world, because apparently that's what it takes to be Hokage," Naruto replied.

"Well, it certainly isn't all fun and games," Iruka commented sagely before his expression turned nostalgic. "Man, it was only a few years ago that I was teaching you all at the academy, and now you're saving the world and probably next in line to be Hokage."

"Technically, I'm still a genin," Naruto shot back with pride. "These kids better be as awesome as me when I graduate."

"Well, you _have_ become the gold standard. I'd be lucky to have another student like you," the teacher said wistfully with a fondness that reminded Naruto exactly how this man had impacted his life.

Iruka had been the first person who had ever really stood up for him and not looked at him as though he was disgusting. Although Naruto had always been determined and tried to stay cheerful, Iruka had been the first sign of _hope_ that achieving his dreams could be possible. There was someone in the world who wasn't really responsible for his care, like Sarutobi had been, that actually respected him as a person and not a demon. There was someone in the world who rewarded him for his hard work and resolve. When Iruka had given him that forehead band, it had been his first step in getting to where he was today. His strength had been drawn from others since he'd become a shinobi, and Iruka was the start of that all.

Naruto might have conveyed his appreciation if he felt it were necessary, but the man looked content as he looked on after his students. Somehow, it seemed like he already knew.

"Hey, that's Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto turned at the mention of his name, confused by the unfamiliar voice that was calling him. Upon glancing at the person yelling, he found a young girl in pigtails pointing at him, her eyes shining. Yeah...he didn't really recall being on the receiving end of _that_ look before.

Apparently, the announcement had all the other ninja-in-training running over as well and soon Naruto found himself, along with Iruka, ambushed by fifteen children. There was a lot of pointing and whispering which wore down on his nerves rather quickly. It was no wonder Sasuke used to get so annoyed by all those girls pining after him. He was used to the pointing and whispering, but somehow, knowing that these kids might see him as an idol made it a lot weirder.

"Please, that's not Uzumaki Naruto! I saw him after he beat Pein! The marks on his cheeks were way thicker!" a raucous black-haired boy shouted.

Naruto's mouth twitched in irritation.

"It'stotally him!" the girl in pigtails argued heatedly, glaring at her classmate. However, she melted back into her bewildering expression of swooning admiration as soon as she looked back at Naruto. "Just look at his hair! It's as yellow as the sun, and his eyes are like a blue ocean of love!"

His mouth twitched again. Just _no_. No to _all of it._

The boy stuck his tongue out at her. "Stupid! You're drooling all over some random guy!"

" _You're_ stupid, stupid!"

"Alright, alright, cut it out," Iruka interrupted them as he stepped forward authoritatively. "Ume, yes, you are right, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Takahiro, no, the marks on his cheeks are not thicker than that."

"I _told_ you so," the pigtail-haired girl named Ume snarled obnoxiously at the boy. "I know my future husband when I see him!"

Naruto blanched nervously. That little girl _did not_ just call him her "future husband." The longer he stood here, the more he wished he was a clone and not the real copy of himself. Flattery was nice and all, but not when it was a young girl who was trying to stake her claim on him.

"So maybe you were right this time, but you're wrong all of the other time!"

The two children began butting heads violently and Iruka let out an audible sigh. He moved to separate them, but Naruto held him back, shooting his old mentor a look. These kids were awfully trigger happy with their tempers and it reminded him of the way he and Sasuke had always been at odds with each other, waiting for the other to pick a fight. He had been lucky enough to be on the same team as his rival and form a real friendship, and he knew that if Sasuke hadn't ended up as his friend, he never would have been as strong. These kids might not have the same opportunity.

Naruto dragged the kids apart by their collars with either hand. They were still giving each other the death glare after being separated from their little tussle.

"Ume and Takahiro, right?" he asked as he let them go. Ume looked utterly delighted to even be remotely near him whereas Takahiro wore a grimace of distain. Naruto took it in stride because he had to, despite the apparent excessive admiration being directed at him. "Everyone's got a dream. What are your dreams?"

" _I'm_ gonna be Hokage!" Takahiro proclaimed, almost identical to the way Naruto used to shout it.

" _I'm_ gonna be the Hokage's super powerful wife!" Ume yelled with equal fervor. Her classmate met her with a look of pure revulsion and she turned red, realizing how her statement had sounded. "Ew! Not _you!_ Of course I mean Naruto-sama!"

"Those are good dreams; big dreams," Naruto said, ignoring that last outburst, "and you know what? It isn't going to be easy to make them come true. You have to work hard, listen to your teachers, and fight against the things that are holding you back. But all that stuff can be easier if you have people there to help you. There are going to be a lot of others who will doubt that you can reach your goals, so it's up to you to support each other in all of this."

The two children eyed each other stubbornly as their other classmates looked on in amusement, wondering if either of them would let up. Naruto wasn't the least bit surprised by this reaction. If someone had said that he should just _get along_ with Sasuke because they'd both need the support, he'd have probably thought that person was the biggest moron in the world.

"Okay, you might not even like each other and you might have very different dreams, but you've got a common goal, and that's to become a great ninja. Isn't that right?" he propositioned, trying to get through to them even just a little bit. "If we want to be strong, we need to work together."

There was a long silence before Takahiro caved first, sighing loudly as he begrudgingly faced the girl with more awkward resistance than animosity. "I _guess_ that's kinda true. You...you were right, after all. That means you gotta be pretty smart."

"T-thank you," Ume replied, significantly subdued. She glanced at her rival tentatively. "Well, you're much better at throwing shuriken than I am... Maybe you can help me...?"

The boy looked utterly floored for a moment before scraping his jaw off the ground. "Uh, sure..."

"Now that _that's_ settled, get back to training," Iruka ordered as he waved them away with his arms. The kids scattered back to the targets, Ume and Takahiro approaching one together. Naruto grinned in satisfaction, absolutely certain that he had forged a friendship between the two children.

The chūnin instructor scratched the back of his head, keeping a wary eye on his students as they practiced. "You graduated years ago, and somehow you're still in the middle of fights in my class."

"At least I didn't start it this time," Naruto stated proudly. "Besides, it's good practice for you!"

Iruka looked utterly opposed to the thought of having to break up more fights. Of course, it was still probably an upgrade for him considering the amount of trouble Naruto himself had caused as a student. His fights with Sasuke were only the tip of the iceberg.

He bid his old teacher farewell as he turned to leave, needing to go to the weapons store before his meeting with Sasuke and the Hokage. He needed more equipment if he was going to train with Sakura. Certainly, he could best her in power, but she was clever and he was not going to dip into things like senjutsu and teaming up with Kurama to beat her. They'd go back to the basics when training together, and that meant projectiles were necessary.

"Hey, Naruto!" he heard his name being called as he landed on the wire fence of the training area, looking back to see Iruka with his hands around his mouth. "War better not be a condition for you to come back!"

He was a little bit ashamed that Iruka was calling him out on this. It was true that he hadn't gone to see his first teacher for quite a while, and that was why he'd visited today. But...that didn't mean he couldn't visit more often. Iruka wasn't just some random person.

"As long as you're here, sensei," Naruto shouted, flashing a nice-guy pose in the most Lee-like manner he possibly could, "I'll be back! Believe it!"

He grinned as Iruka smirked and raised his thumb in return.

* * *

Sasuke was being escorted by five ANBU, Sai walking at his side while being surrounded at four corners by other shinobi with masks. There was less security than last time, probably because Jūgo wasn't with him. When they had initially been bringing the three from Team Taka from the dungeon, the plan was to move them all separately, but Jūgo had refused, afraid that if something went wrong and he were surrounded by people he didn't know, he'd lose it. In the end, the Hokage had authorized the ANBU to transport them together with Karin being moved on her own. This time, there weren't any issues since Sasuke was going on this trip to the Hokage tower by himself. However, walking outside like a prisoner was kind of interesting.

Like Naruto, he was used to people staring at him. When he was younger, he had been admired by the community for various reasons. Girls liked him for being aesthetically pleasing and "dark and mysterious"; adults liked him because as an impressionable child prodigy, they thought he would be a strong asset for the village. The villagers still seemed to love him for his role in preventing the Infinite Tsukiyomi, maybe not realizing the extent of his sins, while the ninja of Konoha quite openly hated him. Opinion appeared to be very divided. Some smiled when they looked his way and others glared. Either way, he didn't care much. The whole thing seemed very fitting after everything he'd done.

He really enjoyed walking outside in the sun, though. Just a stroll through the village after being stuck in Naruto's stuffy apartment was refreshing—not that he could really complain about the place considering Orochimaru's cave lair was pretty much the darkest, dankest place he'd ever lived in, and he'd lived there for a couple of years. Even Konoha's dungeon was luxury by comparison.

Sasuke didn't spend much time wondering about the fate that was about to befall him. After his conversation with Naruto this morning, there didn't seem like much of a point considering he'd know soon enough exactly what that would be. As they walked through the halls of the Hokage tower, he was thinking more about how unstained the white walls were than anything. The idea that Konoha had just been a crater in the ground at one point was odd, considering the village looked practically untouched now. Pein had accomplished something Sasuke had once desired, and looking back, Sasuke was somewhat ashamed it was something he had desired at all. The only thing he'd known was how to perpetuate the cycle of hatred. Though he was technically a prisoner, walking down these halls as one somehow reassured him that he was finally headed in the right direction.

The familiar doors to the Hokage's office were upon him quickly. The ANBU moved him through without hesitation and he looked ahead, expecting to see the Hokage and her assistant sitting at her desk as was the common image. That was not what he got.

Instead, Sasuke found his genin instructor leaning against the desk reading Icha Icha Paradise.

Kakashi's eye lazily rolled up to look at them before he closed his book with a smile. "Ah, thanks, everyone. We're good."

The ANBU disappeared in an instant and Sasuke's mind raced to try and process what was going on. Why was Kakashi here for his meeting with the Hokage?

"Where is Tsunade-sama?" he asked suspiciously, remembering his manners at the last second. This could be some kind of test, and if he didn't show proper respect, his intentions for sticking around might be misinterpreted. He hated even thinking it, but he knew he couldn't be on anything less than his best behaviour right now.

"At the hospital, I believe. I think Shizune said that she's scheduled for a surgery today," Kakashi replied casually, looking back down at his book.

His intelligent brain put the pieces together a second later. It also explained all those cryptic messages during interrogation. He was supposed to be having a meeting with the Hokage right now; the only other person here was Kakashi.

Sasuke snickered. "And here I was thinking that Naruto was a shoe-in for Rokudaime."

"Does that mean you've given up?"

"That depends on what you tell me today, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi finally closed his book, setting it down on the table as Sasuke awkwardly stood in the middle of the room. At an uncomfortable time like this, he would usually be crossing his arms casually to cover up his uneasiness, but given the fact that he was missing one of those, his default posture was simply not available. That was definitely something to rectify, considering he'd already had more awkward encounters since coming back to Konoha than he'd ever had in his five years being away from the village. He really wasn't a people person, and there was certainly of a twinge of jealousy when he saw Kakashi take on the nonchalant pose he didn't have enough limbs to pull off.

"I'm sure you understand the controversy you've caused among the Kages. Your actions in the past have angered many of them," Kakashi said, not mincing words at all. "In truth, we had a very long discussion about your fate before we even left for Konoha, but some felt that the sincerity of your actions needed to be tested. I'm sure you've figured that out by now."

"Hn," he replied in acknowledgement.

"Others weren't very happy that both you and Naruto would be residing in Konoha, regardless of your status. They see it as a threat that the two strongest shinobi in the world are living in the same place. I was hoping the Alliance would have gotten a little less cynical considering our work together in the war, but looking at the motivations behind the war itself, I suppose it's also not that much of a surprise. There's a fear that everybody wants the world for themselves," the Rokudaime continued as they met eyes. "In the end, it was unanimous that it didn't matter whose jurisdiction you were under because you're capable of doing whatever you want, if you so choose. Instead, we did decide what we would do with you. Honestly, the only reason you're not in a prison cell right now is because we knew the public would view you as a hero."

None of what Kakashi was saying was a surprise to Sasuke. It was a given that none of the Kages would favour him, considering he had wronged many of their shinobi and was known as a traitor to his village in general. He'd never given any of them a reason to trust him and he knew he was fortunate to have even kept _some_ of his freedom by the consent of the Kages.

"Now, as much as Tsunade dislikes you, she and I did advocate to give you some semblance of a normal life. The Kages took into account both the circumstances of your past and your contribution to the war. With what happened to your family and the Curse Seal and you saving he world, you can see how we ended up here," Kakashi said, offering a small smile from beneath his mask.

"You haven't explained to me what 'here' is yet," Sasuke replied apathetically. His former teacher wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know, other than the fact that Naruto had been right about Tsunade actually fighting for him. "You and I both know that I've figured all of this out already. There isn't a lot to do in Naruto's apartment."

The new Hokage laughed. "True. I'm hardly surprised you would've already mapped all this out in your mind. Then, let's get serious," he stated as he moved from the desk, standing in front of Sasuke, his jovial expression gone. "You are a major reason that our world is still intact; however, prior to this, you committed several acts of treason that you are well aware of, and I can't say I appreciated you telling Naruto to let Sakura and I die during the battle with Kagura either.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are hereby sentenced to five years probation without use of chakra unless directly allowed by the Hokage."

Sasuke took it all in without flinching. He couldn't deny that it was fair, having no use of chakra for every year he'd been a missing-nin. Still, the idea of living without being able to use chakra was difficult to swallow. He'd been using it since he was old enough to walk.

"Probation doesn't mean house arrest; it just means you'll be watched by a member of ANBU at all times. Of course, this comes with a price. During your probation, you'll be doing community service for Konoha," Kakashi explained cheerfully.

"Community service?" the Uchiha echoed, unsure of where exactly this was going.

"300 D-rank missions, obviously assigned by me," the former genin instructor clarified. "I can assure you there won't be a shortage of those in the next few years."

He forced himself to keep his expression blank even as he thought about how outrageous _three hundred_ D-rank missions without using chakra would be. He'd be painting fences and pulling weeds from gardens for hours by himself. He fervently hoped that stupid cat was dead—and he wasn't sorry for it. There was this profound sense of dread growing within him and he had to give it to the Kages; they had truly picked his punishment well.

"During your free work hours, you'll be assisting me here with paperwork," Kakashi finished, gesturing to the towering stacks of paper on the desk behind him.

...Yes, they were really making him regret his past decisions. "The Kages would let me that close to one of their own every day?"

"That one was actually a personal addition," Kakashi admitted, "and I do have ulterior motives." He pushed off the table, "This isn't a punishment, but a request. You fully have the right to turn it down, but I hope you don't."

Sasuke's mind went through dozens of possibilities, even as he inquired after the answer. "And what would that be, exactly?"

"It could never be official just because of your past, but I want you to be one of my advisors."

Even he had trouble staying stoic at that comment. "...What?"

Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your circumstances since Danzo had your clan massacred have been difficult, to say the least. You've had experiences that nobody else has had because of that, and it's all been for the purpose of revenge. Everything has been to perpetuate the cycle of hatred, and back on that day I was taking your report, we talked about stopping it. The world is never going to be perfect, Sasuke, but I think we can stop that cycle for some, and you're the key to that because you've lived it. You are the person who knows how to stop it. You've made mistakes; let others learn from them too."

The Uchiha's eyes flickered to the side for a moment. He had confidence in most situations, finding bluffing unnecessary when he could back up his claims. He normally had the upper hand during a discussion like this one, and though this was a request of him, he certainly didn't feel like he had one this time. He really needed to think about this, because as much as he _did_ understand this with the reasoning Kakashi had offered him, he also didn't know what he had done to deserve a chance like this. Not a second chance, no...Sasuke already realized how lucky he was to have received one of those, but to actually execute change? He had been too jaded to believe someone would actually offer something like that to him, even his own former teacher.

Kakashi eventually took his silence as indecision, which was not the word he'd use to describe his current thoughts, but at least allowed the continuation of the discussion. "You don't have to answer me now, but I do want to let you know that regardless of your answer, your life will be more or less the same for the next five years. You won't have to stay at Naruto's after tonight either, and although any liquid assets of the Uchiha clan left behind no longer exist, there still _are_ assets that have been frozen by the bank. I can get them released to you to cover your living expense."

"The compound," Sasuke brought up suddenly, "was destroyed by Pein?"

The Hokage nodded, seemingly unperturbed by the change of topic. "Along with everything else."

"And nothing was ever rebuilt there," he continued in his train of thought.

Kakashi's hands went into his pant pockets, eying him warily. "No..."

"I'll agree to your request, Kakashi-sensei," he stated as he finally found his angle, "but I have two conditions."

The Hokage quirked an eyebrow at that, Sasuke entirely aware that he was in no position to negotiate. There _was_ no "upper hand" right now, deep into trying to repent for his actions. Those who ran the villages were in control and he couldn't get what he wanted with force. Still, he had his own requests and this was the best way to get somebody to listen. Kakashi was asking him to let others learn from his mistakes; if he really could, then it would start here.

"I'm listening," Kakashi replied, skipping over the whole lack of leverage issue.

"First, I need your word that Jūgo and Karin will be treated fairly. They came here because of me when they didn't have to, and they helped in the war. Karin saved Tsunade-sama's life as well," Sasuke reasoned, his gaze once again leveled with Kakashi's. One thing he knew he didn't want was to drag his teammates into more severe punishment than his own just because he had been half the world's saviour and they hadn't. Neither of them had needed to follow him back to Konoha either, but they had, knowing they'd be forced to face their crimes. He simply couldn't turn his back on their loyalty. That wasn't the person he wanted to be.

"I understand, but that's been done already. The war has made us take a lot into consideration," Kakashi answered. "Both of them will be on probation like you, but Karin will be assisting at the hospital under Sakura and Tsunade's supervision. In a couple of years, we'll see about reintegrating her into active status. As for Jūgo, he'll be undergoing an extensive psychiatric evaluation so the medical team can try to find a way to manage his condition. In the meantime, he'll help Shikamaru with his duties and work at the Yamanaka flower shop."

Satisfied, Sasuke slowly nodded. He could see Karin working in the hospital, but Jūgo selling flowers was a bit of an odd picture, although the man truly had a gentle personality. He saw the logic in these decisions, however. Shikamaru's shadow binding technique would be capable of controlling Jūgo's body for at least a short time if the man lost control and the Yamanaka family technique would stop it altogether, considering his conscience would be out of commission.

"...Not bad, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke commented with a smirk.

"Many lives were lost during the war and we're all barely holding on as it is," the Hokage explained. "To be honest, it's better for both the people _and_ the village to show compassion rather than clinging to condemnation. I only wish it hadn't taken a war for people to realize this."

The Uchiha shut his eyes for a moment. It hadn't taken a war for him; just a battle to the death between him and Naruto.

"My second condition," he replied, pausing as Kakashi nodded his assent to continue, "I want an orphanage built on the former grounds of the Uchiha compound, and I want it built in Itachi's name." He saw Kakashi's mouth open under his mask, but Sasuke wasn't done. "I don't want this place to be written off or ignored. It needs to be run by people who care."

His old teacher looked surprised and Sasuke couldn't bring himself to say what he really meant. There needed to be a place where a child could go where people really cared, yes, but they needed a place where they wouldn't feel _alone..._ Because that was how Gaara had felt, and that was how Naruto had felt, and that...was how a nine-year-old boy felt after his clan had been murdered and his brother had abandoned him, telling him to seek hatred while the villagers whispered about him from afar. Not everyone could have the same outlook on life Naruto had.

"I don't care what it takes for this to happen, but it needs to be done. You can take the funds to build it from the Uchiha clan accounts—I don't care—but this has to happen, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said, leaving no room for argument.

"You're that intent on seeing this through?" the Hokage asked to which Sasuke answered with a silent nod. "Well, I can't find any reason to refuse, especially since I think that's a great idea myself. Besides, I do need to have some confidence in the suggestions of my advisors."

"Then I guess we're decided," Sasuke responded, smirking. Living in Konoha had been a good choice after all. He hadn't returned for the village, but his bonds to his makeshift family. With the people he respected in charge, he realized he was beginning to understand the love Itachi had for the village.

However, just as their conversation concluded, the door opened to reveal an overexcited Naruto, who came strolling in with an idiotic grin. "Baa-chan! You're taking it easy on Sasuke, ri—" He stopped mid-sentence, blinking in confusion. "Kakashi-sensei, you're not Baa-chan."

"Thank goodness for that. My liver would've given out long ago," Kakashi muttered as he scratched his head at the sudden interruption. "It's good that you're here, Naruto. Sasuke will be helping you out with paperwork during your Hokage training. Sasuke, you'll be assisting Naruto whenever I don't require your help."

Sasuke lifted his hand to his face, sighing. Great. Now he was Naruto's bitch too?

"I don't get it," Naruto announced loudly as he made a face, one side scrunching up in thought. "I mean, Baa-chan said she was stepping down, but if Sasuke's helping me with Hokage stuff, then..."

Kakashi smiled in slight embarrassment. "That's right."

"...Sasuke, _you're_ the new Hokage? What the hell!"

The hand on his face tightened its grip. _This_ was the beginning of his new life in Konoha? He was going to need a lot of patience. _A lot_ of patience. But he was starting to think he might enjoy it.

* * *

Sakura's good mood persisted, even sustaining itself when she had to deal with some particularly uncooperative patients. Though the dumplings were long gone, the feeling of Naruto's kind gesture remained. Even the gossip buzzing around her didn't bother her in the slightest. She was floating through her day, looking forward to her sparring session with Naruto, which was creeping up in a matter of minutes.

"Haruno-senpai, Tsunade-sama is asking for you before you leave today," one of the receptionists relayed to her as she was finishing up her last chart of the day, Sakura handing it to him to file away. That pushed her meeting with Naruto back for a short while, but she could wait a little longer, considering how upbeat she felt today.

She moved down the busy hallways with ease, dodging the mobile beds and colleagues alike. Although she was about to leave for the day, the hospital hadn't slowed down at all. A patient in critical condition whizzed by her side, but she held herself back from taking over the situation from a fellow medic. Ino was right; she needed a break, and she had already agreed to meet Naruto after her shift anyway.

Sakura knocked on the door of her master's office, stepping in once she was called. She was actually a little surprised Tsunade was even here today. Her master had been spending an abnormal amount of time at the hospital compared to the Hokage Tower in the last few days, and her first glance into the office was even more shocking. The office was organized. _For once._ And there were stacks of papers sorted into different trays that signalled completion, revision, and transport. It looked like Tsunade had actually gotten work done.

...What in the world was going on?

"Tsunade-shishou," Sakura greeted her teacher as she walked in, bowing, "you wanted to see me?"

"Sakura, good! I was expecting you," the old woman said as she dropped her pen, something Sakura hadn't seen Tsunade do at the hospital unless she was writing in a chart for about a year. Shizune was usually picking up all the paperwork that needed to be done at the hospital. "This won't take long. There's just something I wanted to talk about before you start hearing things from anyone else."

"Okay," Sakura answered, trying to sound less dubious than she actually felt. This whole thing with the office being organized and whatnot was throwing her off.

Tsunade smiled, resting her chin on her interlocked hands, elbows on the table. "I want to talk about the future. Yours, and mine. I'm resigning from my position as Hokage."

Her mind froze for a second. They'd just come back from a war a little over a week ago, and suddenly her master was stepping down from being Hokage? That didn't make sense. "Wait, shishou, but..."

Tsunade raised a hand to tell Sakura to calm down, so the young medic shut her mouth, though she couldn't keep the concerned furrow of her brow away. Nothing had affected her mood after Naruto had given her those dumplings, but this was seriously distressing her right now. Still, she tried to keep herself calm since she knew that Senju Tsunade wasn't just some woman who went around making rash decisions. Tsunade would make sure that their village would be in good hands if she wasn't going to take the reins herself.

"I already have a replacement lined up, so don't worry."

"Shishou, if you don't mind me asking..." Sakura started in uncertainty, "...why, and now of all times, are you doing this?"

Of all things, her master chuckled. "Oh Sakura, I don't know why your two idiot teammates are the ones who want to be Hokage. You'd make the best Hokage out of the three of them."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Thank you...?"

"There are two main reasons I'm resigning. The first...I'll tell you the same reason I told Naruto. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm an old woman now and I need a break," the Godaime explained, grimacing even as the words came out of her mouth. Abruptly, she leaned down to open a drawer and pulled out a bottle of sake before taking a long swig. It was good to know that some things didn't change. "And the second...is for you."

"Shish—"

"I wasn't done," Tsunade cut her off with a scolding smirk. "You're a modest girl, Sakura, but deep down, you know that, besides Shizune, you're the only one I would trust to run Konoha's hospital. And we both know that Shizune would never do it, so once I'm retired, you know it'd just be you. You've exceeded my expectations in every way possible, and as soon as that seal appeared on your forehead, I knew you'd surpassed me."

Sakura wanted to stop her there and say that she had so much more to learn, but her master had that look in her eyes that said there was no arguing with her. Ninjas, for the most part, were stubborn people and Tsunade was no exception to that. She didn't like being told that she was wrong.

"I know how much you've been taking on at the hospital, but that is going to end today," the Hokage stated, and Sakura reeled.

"But Shi—"

"You really think I'm going to let you get a word into this?" she laughed as she stood from her desk, walking around the table until she was standing face to face with her pupil. "Sakura, you're only seventeen and you've already accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime. You work so hard all the time and take things so seriously, almost like you're a full-fledged adult. And yes, you are an adult..."

She had to physically stop herself from recoiling in shock when Tsunade put a hand on her head. It was something that Kakashi had done to her in the past, but never her master. The Hokage was always tough, and sometimes praising, but never as tender as this with her. She was blushing. The gesture was making her feel less like a disciple and more like a little girl all over again.

"...But you're still a child too. You are going to be the medical director of this hospital someday, but before that, I want you to enjoy life. Remember what it's like to _not_ be an adult and have a little less responsibility. You're already the best medical ninja in the world," Tsunade finished with a gentle smile. Her voice lowered as if she were disclosing a dangerous secret. "I don't think you know how proud of you I am, Sakura. I never got to have a daughter, but I feel like a proud mother all the same."

Sakura swallowed thickly. This was a lot to take in at once. Resignation, medical director, daughter... All the words were swirling in a mass through her head. She was flattered, confused and in awe all at once. "I...I don't know what to say."

Her mentor backed away, leaning back against her desk. "You don't need to say anything. Now get out of here. I hear you have a hot date with that brat of ours."

She sputtered, scandalized and her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. "Tsunade-shishou! We're just training!"

"That's what they all say!" the Hokage drawled sarcastically as Sakura bowed and bolted for the door. "Word gets around fast in this hospital, you know."

Every emotion she'd been feeling changed to mortification as she left the room in haste, only pausing outside to calm herself so she didn't look like a frenzied patient on adrenaline. It was hard to absorb everything she'd just been told. Tsunade's own decisions, Sakura could understand, but she was filled with honour when her master had mentioned her future as the medical director, then had followed up by saying Sakura had _surpassed_ her, one of the legendary sannin and regarded as the best practitioner of medicine in the entire world. That comment had made everything feel surreal.

But then...daughter. Sakura was thankful everyday that her parents were still with her. She loved them, but she had lacked confidence in her abilities ever since being placed on Team 7, despite her fiery temper. Just a few years ago, she had felt useless. She'd always needed to be protected in battle, she hadn't been able to convince Sasuke to stay in Konoha, and everything she did seemed to hurt Naruto. Tsunade had been the one to help build her up again, and Sakura had worked harder than she ever had to make sure the Hokage never regretted the decision to take her on as a disciple, but she had never, _ever_ expected this woman she admired so much to come to see her as a daughter.

Her eyes misted, but she suppressed any further emotion from surfacing. She didn't want to be bawling because of her master's sentiments when she met up with Naruto. Instead, Sakura took a deep breath and began to march down the hospital corridor. The outcome of surviving a war that had been your singular focus had many effects. Sometimes they manifested themselves in a physical way, in the form of a scar or a prosthetic. Other times, they appeared in the form of tears because of loss and death and regret.

And then there were the ones that couldn't be seen, like the reminder that you were still just a child with a whole life full of opportunities still to be experienced.

* * *

He was being hunted. His breathing was heavy as he stood frozen, back against a tree and his heart thumping in his chest. This was the first time he had been able to get away from Sakura during their training session. Fighting her without chakra was _way_ different than getting into a fistfight with his bastard of a friend. With Sasuke, things were raw and the object was to smash each other into the ground. With Sakura, her attacks came a lot quicker in a more calculated manner, and she was almost unfairly good at dodging. After having so many serious battles that generally relied on him winning, it was nice just to have a simple brawl with one of his best friends. Unfortunately, her tactics were getting the best of him and he actually found himself struggling to keep up. She'd always been a much better conventional strategist than he was.

Naruto was in the middle of a sigh when something landed beside his foot. Oh, a kunai. With an exploding tag.

His eyes widened as he scrambled away from his spot as it erupted in destruction behind him. Frantically, he brought his own kunai up to his face to block his opponent's as she descended upon him. The blade was knocked out of his hand as he stumbled back to regain his footing. She took a swipe at his abdomen, just managing to graze the material of his shirt. Naruto was going to retaliate when he realized she had already sprung away and left a lethal gift on the ground in front of him. Groaning, he jumped back at the last moment and covered his face with his arms, the blast from the tag pushing him back. Kurama was being extra unhelpful, cackling hysterically. Needless to say, it was doing nothing for his concentration.

 _'You are pathetic. She's slower and weaker than you, yet she's destroying you,'_ the fox laughed, voice full of enjoyment. Kurama slept a hell of a lot, but considering this was the most Naruto had heard from the demon since the end of the war, he guessed the fox liked to show his face when there was a battle going on. Evidently, he liked watching Naruto get his ass kicked even more.

There was a retort at the tip of his tongue, but he felt Sakura's presence behind him and blocked her roundhouse kick before finally getting on the offensive. He pressed forward with a series of blows that she evaded with ease until she leapt up into the cover of the trees again just as he finished throwing a punch.

...and tripped over a metal wire.

"GAH!" he shouted as he was kicked violently in the back and sent flying a couple of meters. Naruto landed, rolling onto one knee to face his opponent who was no longer there. He was silently berating himself for falling into such an obvious trap. Sakura had been beating on him this whole time using the same little flurry of attacks to draw him into whatever ambush she had prepared for him within seconds and he just didn't have the mind to keep up. Kurama, at least, was roaring with laughter.

Then he looked down only to find yet another exploding tag at his knees. "Not again..." he whined as he flew back and found a whole pathway of tags waiting for him. He set to the trees and ran like hell until he reached the clearing with the waterfall, propelling himself into the open air, away from the explosion behind him.

Naruto realized at the last second that it was exactly what she wanted.

It was second nature to him to form a clone, which grabbed her just before her fist connected with his face and tossed her into the lake. Sakura fell with a splash that was muted by the sound of the waterfall and Naruto landed on both feet, feeling satisfied that he had finally gotten the upper hand. Quickly, he considered his options. Uzumaki Naruto Rendan or something to do with exploding tags since she liked them so much?

Just as he was about to make his decision, a raging Sakura emerged from the water that banished all thoughts from his head and caused all demon foxes to retreat to their cages.

"Naruto, you cheated!" she yelled, her shoulders lifted in tension as she waded through the lake instead of walking on it.

"I what?" Naruto asked quizzically.

Sakura pulled herself from the water onto the grass and stalked up to him, crossing her arms with a huff. "You _cheated!_ We agreed it was taijutsu and weapons only! And you just used a clone to gain the advantage!"

He grinned nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh, did I? I didn't mean to."

" _Naruto,_ " she growled at him menacingly.

"Really!" he said, lifting his hands in surrender. "You put me in a mess there and I just did it automatically!"

"Fine," Sakura sighed before she shot him a haughty look, "but that means I win this round."

He grinned, taking off his cloak to put it around her. After all, it was his fault that her clothes were all wet...not that he minded much. Wet clothes would cling to the body, and that was exactly what it was doing on Sakura. He was staring at her rather shamelessly, even after he placed the cloak over her shoulders.

"Well, at least I lost to you, Sakura-chan. Better than losing to Sasuke-teme," he replied cheerfully as he pulled the front of the cloak closed, hands on either side. She smiled at him mischievously in return.

"Oh, _much_ better," she retorted in a way that made him nervous. She took a step closer to him and he unconsciously leaned back with a feeling of unease. "Aren't you lucky?"

He saw her lift her hand and softly flick him in the chest. However, the feeling wasn't anything as the gesture appeared. It felt more like someone had swung a mallet into his chest, which was the only thing he could register when he felt himself hit the water. Okay, yeah, he deserved that.

Recovering quickly, he rose from beneath the surface to find her laughing at him from the field. Spitting out some water, Naruto smirked. She wanted to play, did she? Well, two could play at this game. He made his favourite hand sign, shouting, "You sure like to use your chakra now!"

"I already won, so it's no problem if I do!" Sakura countered cheekily as his clone grabbed her around the waist from behind. She seemed to be enjoying the moment too much to even bother putting up a fight, laughing even harder as the Naruto clone promptly delivered her back into the lake with an unceremonious splash. When she stood up, she peeled his cloak, which was tangled over her head, away and tugged it around herself again.

"This won't do me a lot of good anymore," she said as his clone disappeared into smoke behind her.

"You could've taken it off first," Naruto pointed out as he waded up to her.

"I'm sorry I got your precious cloak wet," Sakura replied mockingly. She pulled her hair back to wring it out even though they were still in the water, drawing his eyes to her forehead. He always wondered why she had covered it up when they were kids. He had always found her beautiful and wanted to see every part of her face.

"Don't be," he breathed out as she let go of her hair and he moved forward to brush her bangs to the side. "You look good in it."

Gently, she put her hand on his and lowered it from her face. Sakura glanced up at him, expression sober, and he realized that the situation suddenly wasn't so funny anymore. He'd been caught up in his desires and had done something he knew he shouldn't have. He had gotten so used to leaving his guard down with her that Naruto had forgotten there were still some things he needed to shield her from.

"Why did you do that?" she asked so quietly that he barely heard her over the sound of the waterfall. Her hand was still holding his and he was frozen as though he'd been caught in the act of doing something bad.

Naruto was unsure how to answer her question. Why did he do _what?_ Touch her? Move her hair? Tell her how attractive she was in his clothes? All he really knew was that he had made a mistake that he couldn't take back. The motion was too intimate to just be passed off as an accident, and by the look on her face, she knew very well that it wasn't. There was exposure in his actions. It was too late to cover up without appearing to be a complete and utter liar.

"You... You have a very nice forehead," he blurted out awkwardly, simultaneously kicking himself for the honest but decidedly _not_ suave answer.

Instead of laughing at him outright like he thought she would, Sakura smiled at him gently. The tips of her index and middle fingers still held on to his. "I should've known..."

In his panicked state, he paused just to try and figure out what she was referring to. "You should've known what?"

"That Sasuke-kun would never say something like that to me," she responded with a chuckle. "It was you speaking to me on the bench all those years ago. At least your opinion hasn't changed."

Naruto swallowed. She still remembered that? Back when he was a kid, he would have done anything to get her attention, even if it meant pretending to be Sasuke. The idea of kissing her had been one of the things he thought would make him the happiest kid in the world. He hadn't really thought of her feelings then. It was all about getting her eyes on him, the same way Sakura would bid for attention from Sasuke. Their childhoods had been vastly different, but over time, Naruto had realized the reason he liked her so much was how hard she fought for acknowledgement. She'd put every ounce of herself into fighting for Sasuke's affection and it was a major reason he was drawn to her.

"I shouldn't have pretended to be him, but I wanted to kiss you," he admitted. He briefly considered her crushing his skull like he deserved for doing something like that, but her expression didn't change.

"We were twelve," was all she said.

He saw it then, the uncertainty in her eyes. She _knew_ he'd tripped up and she was letting it go. She was raising the shield for both of them because there were too many consequences for allowing things to go any further. As long as he didn't say anything else, they would go along with life the way they usually did—the way he intended for the both of them when he had been trying to justify his thoughts to Sai.

...He really was scum. Standing here in front of her, Naruto knew that every rationalization he'd made was complete bullshit. Even with the words at the tip of his tongue, the reason he couldn't bring himself to say anything was because of _fear_. He could deny it all he wanted, but he _was_ afraid of rejection. How could he not be? He had never loved anyone so much in his life and even the fantasy of being with her could be shattered in a second. If he said nothing and she ended up with Sasuke, at least he could still imagine the possibilities.

But he didn't want to be a hypocrite. He didn't want to be the one lying to himself. And...above all, he wanted to be honest with the woman who had been his most supportive friend and had fought for him harder than anyone else over the past five years.

His fingers curled tighter around hers. "Some things do change though. I liked you back then, but..." Naruto told her, "it's love now."

* * *

Sakura couldn't remember the exact time that she had decided she wanted to be a ninja, but it had never been just for a boy. She had seen so many powerful female figures around the village and wanted to be one of them. She hadn't been particularly strong, but she was smart, and she figured if she were smart, she could be a good ninja. She had met all the admission requirements to the academy and was accepted at a young age along with several of her peers. Her mother had initially disliked the idea of her only daughter going to what was essentially a school for soldiers. On the other hand, her dad had been proud and cheered her on the entire way. As a little girl, she'd been quite proud of herself too.

But then…somewhere along the way, she lost her vision. A handsome, brooding boy had stepped into her path and unknowingly swept her off her feet. Suddenly, all she had been able to do was think about him, and think about love. She worked hard at her kunoichi classes so that he would notice her, but that didn't work. Then she tried to change her appearance to suit his preferences, and that didn't work either. Of course, that didn't matter because as fate would have it, they ended up on the same team. And when that handsome, brooding boy lost _his_ way, standing at the village gate ready to leave them all behind, she begged him to stay—begged him to _take her_ —for her own sake.

Because she loved him. Or so she thought.

Sakura hadn't known what true love was when she was twelve, but she had learned. It was endlessly supporting him, no matter what else was going on. It was taking on his dreams as your own because you wanted him to succeed. It was shouldering a burden you never thought you could bear to protect him. It was making him smile even when you felt like the one who needed the pick-me-up. It was putting his happiness first, even at the expense of your own.

It was being by his side whenever he needed you, as a friend, as a partner, as anything.

She had learned, because that was everything she always wanted to do for Naruto.

 _"I liked you back then, but...it's love now."_

Her feelings for Sasuke had always been selfish, driven by the wish of having him for her own and the need to save him from himself. Sakura had thought that dedication to him was love, but she knew now that it wasn't. As her breath caught in her throat, she wondered if Naruto knew that. She wondered if he knew she felt those things for him and not Sasuke.

The way their conversation had been going, she hadn't expected him to actually go through with it. She was well aware of his feelings and it was obvious to her when he'd slipped up. That didn't mean she needed to show him she knew, spare him any further embarrassment when he backed off.

But there was no backing off. Instead, she found out that it had never been Sasuke who had given her the compliment that had only cemented her faith in him and the love she knew Naruto had for her came directly from his mouth for the first time.

It was all she could do to not run with the way he was looking at her. His hair and clothes were dripping wet, but his eyes were intense and determined. Sakura felt oddly naked under his gaze with her own hair swept out of her eyes, vaguely regretting that she had let him do so. It was as though he had cleared away her shield before he attacked. No wonder she could barely hear her own thoughts. They were whizzing across her mind, lost in the roar of the waterfall while she was still reeling from his confession.

Even if she couldn't organize her thoughts properly, there were things that stood out from her conversation with Ino yesterday. She had to leave the "what ifs" behind. If Sakura had really learned what love was, then she would put Naruto's happiness before her own. That meant letting him _choose_ what would make him happy. It was not up to her to make that decision for him, no matter how much that decision might hurt somebody else.

She took a deep breath.

"It's love now," she said loudly, willing herself to keep her eyes locked to his, "for me too."

He chose his happiness in less than a second. Sakura wasn't even completely sure of what happened. One moment he was there waiting on her response, and the next, his arms were around her waist pulling her flush against him and his lips were on hers. She had never been kissed before, but her body seemed to instinctively know what to do. Her lips parted for him and her arms went around his neck. She could tell that Naruto had just as little experience in the area as she did, considering how awkward the encounter was at first, but they quickly fell into something that felt natural. Boldly, she pulled him closer to her, deepening their kiss. She'd already been on her toes to meet him. Sometimes she forgot how tall he'd grown.

When they parted, he rested his cheek against her head while her heart thumped in her chest. She had just kissed the man she loved—rather, _he'd_ kissed _her_ , but she'd responded eagerly in kind. She might as well have been the one who initiated it with the way she couldn't stop smiling. She wanted this, consequences damned, and the evidence was written all over her face.

"Did that really happen, Sakura-chan?" Naruto murmured into her hair, his voice disbelieving. "Am I dreaming?"

"You could be. You dream a lot," she teased as a surge of contentment shot through her. Her decision to be honest had been the right one. No matter what happened from here on she could deal with because they were _both_ happy. "But you also have a habit of making dreams come true."

He was silent for a moment, just holding her tightly. The air around them was chilly against their wet clothes and she could feel the goosebumps rising on her arms, but he was warm and she didn't feel cold at all.

"I used to think you were just a cute girl and I thought liked you because of that," Naruto admitted in a low voice, "but then I realized that wasn't it all. It was the way you always fought to be recognized. We always shared the same feeling, even if yours wasn't for me."

Sakura buried her face into his chest, embarrassed. She didn't need a reminder of how shallow she'd been as a child. Naruto had liked her because of a quality in her personality; she had liked Sasuke for being handsome, smart, and strong. She'd known since he promised to bring Sasuke home that his feelings for her were deeper than a silly crush, but it always amazed her how emotionally mature he was. He could see through the eyes of anyone he met and was never short of compassion. Naruto had seen through _her_ eyes to forgive the things she'd done that hurt him, to understand the mistakes she'd made, and he still loved her through all of it.

"I thought you were a loud, obnoxious moron," Sakura replied, snickering into his wet shirt. "I can't say you're any different from that now."

He finally pulled away just to pout at her, but his hold didn't loosen. Sakura didn't mind at all. She didn't want him to let go of her either.

She brought her hand to his cheek, running her thumb over the top whisker mark with a smile. "You're just a lot more underneath it all."

His face lit up, grinning brightly. His hold on her loosened, stepping back enough to only leave his hands on her waist. "So-so then, how about we go on a date?"

Sakura laughed quietly at his enthusiasm. She knew that this was not the first or the last time he would be asking her out. This time, however, the invitations might be a bit more frequent—not that that was a bad thing.

"Alright," she agreed amicably. "We'll even go for ramen, if you want."

Naruto literally burst from his spot in celebration, splashing up water as he hooted and ran around the lake until he was tripped up by the water resistance and flopped over onto his face. It didn't even faze him for more than a second as he jumped back up and continued in his festivities. All in all, he was doing a stellar job of assuring her that she had made the right decision.

"But _first_ ," she interrupted his celebration as she lifted herself out of the water, beginning to wring out his cloak, "we need to dry off and change."

His face was still glowing as he followed her out and shook the droplets from his hair. "Okay! I can pick you up! I wanna pick you up! I'll pick you up!" he rambled in excitement.

Naruto's words made her blush. Although she'd had guys meet her outside her front door before, she'd never actually had someone pick her up for a _date_ before, let alone had someone be so keen about the prospect of doing anything of the sort. It had been years since she'd last wondered what it would be like for a boy to walk her home at night or to come knocking on her door to see if she was ready to go. Sakura might have grown up, but she still found herself giddy at the idea of it, especially when it would be Naruto on the other side of the door.

"One hour. Don't be late," Sakura advised him with a smirk. She moved forward to press the cloak into his hands and confidently kissed him on the angle of his jaw. The dazed expression and dopey smile she left on his face were well worth it. She'd never felt better as she walked off.

"Sakura-chan! Wait! One more thing!"

She paused to turn around and he was still standing there like the sopping wet teenager he was in his infinitely cheerful disposition. "What is it?"

Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth shouted at the top of his lungs, " _I love you!_ " and grinned ear to ear before he jumped off into the trees.

Snickering, Sakura continued on her way from the training ground. "Idiot," she muttered under her breath with a smile. "I love you too."

* * *

It was a really, really good day. For one thing, any day where he got to have ramen at Ichiraku had to be at least somewhat wonderful, but today was a really, _really_ good day. He had eaten at Ichiraku with Sakura countless times on friendly dates, but this would be his first time actually eating next to her as her _boyfriend_. Was that what he was? Was he allowed to call himself that? Was this actual date supposed to be fundamentally different from all the others they'd had?

It didn't seem all that different other than the fact that Naruto was giddier than usual and that he'd gotten the privilege to pick her up from her house. They chatted as they always did on the way to the ramen bar, walking a little closer together than normal, but not holding hands. Their fingers brushed against each other's a few times, though, which only boosted his mood. It didn't bother him that not a lot had changed from just a little over an hour ago. There was no rush to hold hands or do more than they were comfortable doing right now. All that could come later now that he knew how she felt. For now, Naruto just wanted to enjoy being with her.

The beautiful smell of noodle soup wafted through the air as they approached Ichiraku with its lanterns glowing lowly in the subsiding light. Naruto was suddenly glad he had actually taken a few minutes to shower when he saw Ayame working with her father at the restaurant as well. It was one thing to look like a slob in front of someone who was like his uncle, but he really didn't want to look like that in front of his uncle's daughter. After leaving Sakura, he had spent the majority of time before he was supposed to meet her "whoop"ing his way through the forest, too much pent up energy of bliss running through him to just let it sit. Luckily, he'd remembered in time to clean up before he picked up Sakura. He was pretty sure his date would've been majorly displeased if he hadn't, in any case.

"Naruto! Always good to see you!" Teuchi greeted the pair of them as they settled on stools side by side. He was already putting fresh noodles into a pot of boiling water. The man knew Naruto's eating habits far too well. "And you've brought Sakura-chan with you!"

"It's been a while, Teuchi-san. I'm sorry I haven't been by. The hospital is exceptionally busy these days," Sakura said politely, splitting her chopsticks. Over the years, she had been to Ichiraku often enough with Naruto to be on friendly terms with the owner—although Naruto thought she would have made friends with them on her own, even if he weren't around. So kind and always willing to lend a helping hand, Sakura was a difficult person to dislike.

"You kids, always out saving the world! You know, when I was your age, all I dreamt of doing was making the best ramen!"

"Your dream is going to fall through if you don't take out those noodles, father," Ayame quipped from behind him as she finished putting together another customer's bowl.

Teuchi grimaced, going to strain out the noodles before they overcooked as Naruto piped up. "I'll have a bowl of miso ramen today! Extra chashu! Today's a special day!"

"Oh?" Teuchi set his noodles down and leaned over, whispering conspiratorially, "Special, as in you finally convinced her to be your...?" He lifted his pinky finger and gestured to it with a wink.

"I can see that, Teuchi-san," Sakura sighed, covering her face in embarrassment at the same time Naruto gave the cook a thumbs up.

The older man clapped his hands together in excitement. "Alright! A special day! First bowl's on the house for both of you!"

Naruto chatted with Teuchi for a few more minutes before he realized that Sakura had been oddly quiet for the last little while. When he turned to look at her, she seemed to be staring _through_ the chopsticks rather than at them. He took a second to appreciate her unguarded moment, her hair draped over her shoulders as she leaned against the table, deep in thought. It was an image he'd file away to be remembered as his first date with Sakura-chan.

"Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

She blinked, snapping out of her stupor as she turned to look at him. "Oh...no. I was just thinking about how hard we were both hit when Sasuke-kun left, but if he hadn't, I don't think you and I would've ever become this close. It's been hard, but I wouldn't change anything."

"I wouldn't have let you forget me anyway," Naruto replied. It had been a really long journey to get here, but there was no doubt he would do it all again just to end up here. He didn't regret the things that had happened to get here.

"No, you wouldn't," she shot back cheekily. " _Someone_ needs to be around to tell you when you're being stupid."

Ayame laughed as she set down their bowls in front of them. "Keep her around, Naruto. She knows what she's talking about."

He was about to go into sulking mode when Sasuke was suddenly sat down beside him by Kakashi. He glanced over at his friend and former teacher in confusion. Sasuke appeared sullen as usual, but his posture looked relaxed. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed ridiculously cheerful. They were out of sight, but Naruto could distinctly feel the presence of six ANBU nearby as well. His date with Sakura was somehow turning into a rather public affair.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you and Sasuke-kun doing here?" Sakura asked, leaning forward to peek over.

"Well, Sasuke and I had a long discussion about some things that would be changing when I become Hokage, so I thought we'd get a bite to eat before he goes back to Naruto's place for the night," Kakashi replied, pausing briefly to relay Teuchi his order. "He agreed as long as we would grab some food for Karin and Jūgo too."

Ramen for Karin? Naruto grimaced. Like she would ever appreciate it.

" _You're_ the new Hokage, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura announced in realization. She immediately covered her mouth, knowing that she had been too loud in her declaration.

Kakashi chuckled. "It seems all my students know now."

She replied with a quiet "congratulations", still a little embarrassed about her outburst.

"So you two decided to come here for dinner as well?" their teacher asked.

"We're on a _date!_ " Naruto proclaimed proudly, even as Sakura groaned quietly beside him at his overzealousness.

"Oh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, although he didn't look surprised at all.

"Yeah!" He raised his chopsticks in triumph. "And I kissed Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smacked him in the head, blushing furiously. " _Naruto!_ "

He cringed, rubbing the sore spot. It was suddenly very evident why people used that phrase "kiss and tell," because it occurred to him that was exactly what he had done. According to Sakura's response, it was also a bad thing. Apparently, all that energy he'd used up hopping around the forest hadn't been quite enough to suppress his enthusiasm.

"Big deal," Sasuke deadpanned, "you kissed me too."

There was a beat of silence before Sakura started laughing, clearly remembering one of the most devastating moments of Naruto's life. He wailed about how they'd agreed never to speak of that again while Sasuke ignored him in the midst of a failed attempt to nonchalantly split his chopsticks with one hand. Kakashi just shook his head like he didn't want to know.

His date with Sakura somehow turned into a team date as the rest of the ramen came. Naruto didn't mind so much when he felt Sakura's hand slip into his under the table as he argued with Sasuke over which ramen toppings were the best. Kakashi tried to placate them both, offering validation to both their opinions. In the end, they all agreed with Sakura, who stated that all the other things thrown into ramen didn't matter as long as the broth was good. It needed a good base.

Naruto had never wondered if a day like this would ever come again because he'd known he was going to make it so. Life always held little journeys for each person, and his had taught him a lot along the way. He learned that you could achieve your dreams with hard work, that destiny was a choice and not a given, and most of all, that true friends could get you anywhere you wanted to go. His journey had led him here, with the four of them sitting here, everyone back where they belonged. Side by side. A team. A family. A good base.

Life would go on, but every journey needed an ending, and Naruto thought this would be the perfect ending to his.

* * *

 **Epilogue to come.**


	4. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** Thanks to all who contributed legitimate reviews for this fic. I always knew I would get indiscriminate hatred for writing this, but everyone who enjoys reading this makes it worth posting.

Someone said that this story didn't need an epilogue and I actually agree; it was fine the way it was. But then, this epilogue is for the NaruSaku fandom, because even though pairings are not even remotely the only thing I ever cared about in this series, NaruSaku was a pairing that I saw growing together since I started reading/watching Naruto. Before the series ended, they had been a pairing I held close to my heart for _nine years_. This was a series I was committed to for _nine years_. When it ended, nothing was easy to let go of, and that's why this story exists. This epilogue is a thank you to the NaruSaku fandom for holding me together because we were all falling apart, whether it was because we cared for the pairing, Naruto, Sakura, or just the characters and series in general. This is our future. _**  
**_

Thank you to my Chief Beta Reader Extraordinaire, **Irradiance!**

* * *

 _ **Lifting the Dream**_ by HawkofNavarre

 **Epilogue**

 _ **"The next**_ _ **generation**_ _ **will**_ _ **always**_ _ **surpass the previous**_ _ **one."**_

* * *

"Today's finally the day," Naruto said. "Today, I'll officially have my dream come true!"

It was quiet around him, and he found that this was the case quite often recently. He was looking for guidance for all the things happening in his life from people who couldn't talk back. Well, maybe it wasn't really guidance, but talking to them let him think peacefully, and it reminded those who were no longer there that they were still very much a part of his life.

There was also sort of a sombre feel when he came to the memorial even though it looked so beautiful. The grass was always greenest here, outlining the headstones with planted flowers growing at their edges. Even through the winter, this clearing seemed to be untouched by the weather, though Konoha cold season was generally rather mild anyway. It was a sad place, but he liked being among the memories.

"You know, the first thing I thought about this morning when I woke up was coming to see you, because even though you probably wouldn't show it, I think you'd be more excited about this day than I am," the sage said, smiling. He sat down next to the headstone, sprawling out on his back. Glancing into the sky, he ignored the fact that there was an ANBU shadowing him about ten rows down. Today was important and he didn't mind that there were people around him trying to make sure the day went smoothly. As long as Neji didn't mind either.

"I always wanted to be Hokage because it meant that everyone would finally respect me, but I never really needed to do that to accomplish what I wanted. All I had to do was show everyone that I cared just as much for our village and our people as everyone else, but I'm here anyway. Everyone used to think that I wouldn't get here, and then everyone started thinking that I _would_. _I_ even thought this was fate a few times," Naruto confessed, recalling his breakdown that day back at the memorial. "Sakura-chan had to remind me of the same thing I tried to show you."

He turned his head, staring at the name of his friend engraved onto the stone. "But in the end, both of us were living on our own terms. I think that's all we ever wanted. I just wish you could've walked further on your own path."

Over the years, he had realized just how lucky he'd been in life for things to turn out this way. As an adult, and a powerful one at that, he knew exactly how little control he had over many things in his life. Even as the leader of his village, he couldn't guarantee everything would go the way he planned. Once upon a time, he had been fighting a war he thought he could win without losing any of his friends.

Boy, was he wrong about that one.

Naruto had had as little control over that situation as he did over anything else. If he could've controlled it, he would've made sure that nobody else took that hit for him. Maybe that would've changed the present, or maybe it wouldn't have; Naruto had no way of knowing. He didn't regret being the one who was here today, but he was sad there were people he loved that couldn't truly share it with him.

"At least...you'll be glad to know that Hinata's making progress with your uncle. You probably know already since she comes to see you every week, but I think that's pretty cool. She's really learned to stand her ground, and I know she's doing it for you," he commented, thinking about how much the Hyuuga had grown over the years. "You'd be really proud."

"Naruto."

The sage didn't need to glance over to know who was behind him. Although this was supposed to have been a relatively private visit, his assigned guard was never too far away. Naruto had considered sneaking out this morning to get some _real_ privacy, but had ultimately decided against it upon recalling the day he'd evaded his security detail to have a little fun with his wife on her day off. It had certainly been a good time until an ANBU had caught them both extremely...preoccupied at a forested training ground, later notified that every available ANBU had been mobilized to find him. His being missing seemed to create a lot of unnecessary worry, even when everyone knew he had enough power to blow up the world if he wanted to.

"Sounds like it's about time to go, Neji," Naruto stated as he sat up, grinning.

Right on cue, Sai placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Shikamaru gave me the responsibility of making sure you are on time, so it _is_ time to go," the artist stated dryly. "I thought you would be more excited than this."

He finally spun around, rocking back and forth in his spot as he beamed. "I _am_ excited!" he assured his friend, though his face fell slightly. "I just... There are people I wish could be here today..."

"I understand," Sai replied, nodding. He didn't offer any words of condolence, which Naruto was grateful for. The lost physical presence of Neji or his parents or Ero-sennin were things that Naruto accepted, but bringing them back was one dream that couldn't be realized unless he wanted to wake the dead. That was something he would never do. It would be selfish and they deserved to rest peacefully.

Letting out a breath, Naruto got to his feet. "Okay, we need to go, right?"

"Yes. You realize that if you're late, Sakura will murder you," the other male stated factually.

"I know, I know," Naruto answered, laughing nervously. He rarely shirked his duties because this was something he'd wanted and he didn't need anybody to reinforce that. Then, there was the odd occasion when he could be particularly persuasive with his wife, sending a clone in his place and making her a few minutes late for work. Those were _very_ good mornings. Otherwise, he was quite responsible with the things that had been given to him—except when it came to events. He tended to get caught up in nostalgia at times like these and that caused him to be late, something that annoyed Sakura to no end. Her temper was even shorter than usual right now because of hormones and it wouldn't do either of them any good if he did something that was stressful for her.

He smiled down at his friend's headstone. "See ya later, genius. Stick with me today."

Naruto didn't need a response to know that everyone who couldn't be here _would_ be here today. He had shot his loudmouth off for far too long about being Hokage that he was pretty sure that he'd annoyed everyone into coming. He'd been blathering on about it to Jiraiya and his parents for months already.

With a nod, the two took off towards the tower to get ready for the coronation. They traveled at a quick pace, but slow enough that villagers were shouting greetings and congratulatory remarks at him. Naruto grinned, waving at them as he passed by. He had long since gained the respect of his fellow citizens, but it was always nice to be reminded of what he had accomplished and how many friends he had made getting to where he was today. He could see that many of them were already dressed in formal robes, ready to attend the coronation in a couple of hours. Although it was both flattering and terrible for his ego, Naruto could never get used to the kind of hero worship he received.

The duo ended up having to land on the balcony of the Hokage Tower as the entrance was surrounded by excited villagers, Sai shuffling him inside to prepare. The office was filled with Kakashi's advisors and several of his rookie friends who had been assigned to his security for today. Almost immediately as he came through the entranceway, Chouji was grabbing him and dragging him through the mass of people in the room. Naruto had barely raised his hand to greet Kakashi before he was swept away, Sai trailing behind them.

" _Finally,_ " Chouji sighed as he continued down the corridor, completely ignoring the stumbling Naruto who was trying to walk on his own. "Do you know what Shikamaru would _do_ to me if you weren't ready on time?"

The sage frowned, putting up a very weak fight against the hand that had an iron grip on his collar. "He recruited you too? Doesn't he trust me at all?"

"Of course he _trusts_ you, but since you chose _him_ as your main advisor, everyone is expecting him to be responsible for you being on time today. He thinks that it would be really troublesome for him if he didn't follow through on his first responsibility as your advisor," the jounin responded. "I've gotta get you into your robes!"

"I can change his pants while you change his shirt. It will save time," Sai volunteered helpfully as Naruto reddened at the thought of anyone who wasn't a medic or his wife taking off his clothes.

"I can dress myself!" he protested.

"Perhaps if we find Kiba, he can take care of the shoes."

"Or Lee. Lee would be faster."

Before the discussion could continue, Shikamaru came running up behind them, actually looking as though he'd been running with all the effort he could possibly muster, which briefly threw all of them for a loop. Naruto even found himself released from his Chouji prison.

"Change of plans," the genius hissed as he started shoving Naruto into the nearest room. "The coronation's off."

The other three males present stared at Shikamaru in disbelief. Naruto suddenly felt like he'd swallowed a stone and it was hitting the bottom of his stomach with a resounding thud. The coronation was... _off?_ But—but he had been anticipating this day for _years!_ Was it something he'd done? Why was this so last-minute? The expression on Shikamaru's face was so sober that all Naruto could think was that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

"I—wait, but— _what?_ " Naruto managed to spit out even as his main advisor kept pushing him into the room.

"You need to get to the hospital," Shikamaru explained, completely undeterred by question as he kept roughly guiding Naruto through the room. Naruto had no idea what exactly the other guy was trying to accomplish, but he was getting awfully sick of all the shoving.

"The hospital? Why?" he demanded, back now against the window of the room.

Shikamaru shot him a look like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Sakura's having the baby."

Oh. _Oh._ She wasn't due for another two weeks, but this certainly explained a lot of what was happening right now. It was no wonder Shikamaru looked so stressed out, and he barely got stressed out about anything.

Seeing the look on his face, the genius piped up again. "Yes, exactly. So get to the hospital right now. Ino's been bugging me non-stop to get you to the hospital for the last half hour."

"She didn't transmit anything to me," Chouji said, apparently mildly offended that his teammate hadn't bothered to contact him telepathically.

"You _do not_ want to have her voice in your head. Trust me," Shikamaru grumbled as though he had a headache. "Now hurry up and get out of here, Naruto. We'll come check up on you guys later."

"I'll go with him," Sai chimed in. He stepped forward and opened the window for the both of them.

Naruto placed a foot onto the windowsill, glancing back for a moment at the males of Team 10, wanting to convey his gratitude to them before he left. However, Shikamaru shot him an exasperated look.

"Naruto, there's no need to thank us. Just _go_."

No further words necessary, he jumped out the window with Sai behind him.

* * *

The idea that he was about to become a father didn't seem real to him as he burst through the entrance of the hospital. All eyes landed on him immediately, a woman placing a hand on his shoulder after scurrying up beside him. He looked around in confusion for a moment before realizing it was Shizune who had come to greet him.

"Oh, good! You're here! Sakura's been asking for you," Shizune said, nodding at Sai to follow her. "I know this is terrible timing, but babies don't really wait."

"No, there's nothing more important than this," he said as Tsunade's assistant began leading them down the halls. Being Hokage had been his dream since he was a kid, but it made no difference whether this had been his dream for decades or if he had just wished for it yesterday; his child came before anything. Although he knew how much his parents loved him—and they had died to save him _and_ the village—they hadn't been there for him when he was a kid. If Naruto had the chance, he was going to make sure that his own son or daughter never felt lonely the way he had all those years ago—and he knew that the kid couldn't be luckier than to have Sakura for a mother.

Shizune led them to the top floor of the hospital where several of the nurses and medics working congratulated him, though he wasn't really sure if they were referring to his coronation or to his child being born soon. Naruto was far too focused on trying to get to his wife anyway. He didn't need to question which room was hers when he spotted Sasuke and Karin sitting together on a bench in the hall. Karin appeared to be bandaging up Sasuke's hand as Shizune told him to wait outside for a moment. Instead, he approached his cousin and best friend.

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"Sakura and contractions," he explained, leaving out all other details.

Naruto laughed nervously. The birth process could prove more harmful to him than Sakura if she was going to channel all her pain through expressions of her physical strength.

"I think she was taking it easy on you. She only fractured a couple carpals," Karin stated as she continued bandaging up his hand. She turned to look at Naruto. They had grown closer as friends and relatives through the years although their strong personalities still clashed frequently. "You know, I tried to get him to bite my neck, but he refused, and now he's also refusing to get someone to heal his hand normally."

"I'm not going to bite you just to fix my hand, and I told you I'd get it looked at after this thing is over," Sasuke replied stubbornly.

"P-please, Sasuke, you know my body's always open to you," the redhead said, blushing as Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke, even after all these years, still hadn't expressed any romantic or sexual interest for anyone, except for the interest of restoring his clan. Who knew if that would ever change.

Nonetheless, the Uchiha's friendship had improved significantly with Sakura since the war ended. He still wasn't much of a conversationalist in general, but it was little gestures like staying with her at the hospital until Naruto arrived that showed how much Sasuke actually valued their friendship. The fact that he didn't want to leave at all before he knew Naruto and Sakura's child was safely born only proved how much he had accepted these bonds into his life. Karin and Jūgo were also consistently around. They had stayed loyal to Sasuke just as they said they would and Naruto thought he was grateful for it.

...And on top of that, Karin _still_ had a thing for him. She kept her preference for him so obvious that pretty much every person in Konoha knew about it and she was widely despised by his admirers for not being rejected around him like practically every other squealing fangirl.

"I'm fine," Sasuke stated, completely indifferent to Karin's implication.

"If that's the case, then you will require assistance with eating during upcoming meals," Sai pointed out casually. "Shall I volunteer?"

Sasuke leveled his gaze at the ANBU for a moment before turning back to Naruto. "...I'll get it healed after the baby's born."

The blond smirked at the idea of Sai feeding Sasuke. "Whatever you say."

Just then, the door opened and Shizune popped her head out. "Naruto! Please come in now! We're set up and the baby is on its way now!"

He nodded at her and she disappeared back into the hospital room where his wife lay, his son or daughter only moments away from truly entering the world. There was so little standing between him and something so big and it was harder to grasp than almost anything in his life.

"Good luck," Sai said supportively.

"Hopefully Sakura won't break your hand too," Karin added, her own smile of encouragement saying every well wish that could've been said. "I can't wait to be an aunt!"

Naruto sent a shaky grin to her in return, then took one last look at the man who would be "Sasuke-ojichan." He said nothing, but his eyes, black as they were, were the most expressive part of his features. The sage knew his best friend was only hoping for the best for both him and Sakura.

"Thanks, guys," he replied, taking one deep breath before walking through the door.

* * *

"Did we really make him? I mean, are you really holding a tiny person that's part me and part you?"

He was looking down at the tiny person in question who was resting in his wife's arms, eyes closed and face pink. Hours ago, he had been marvelling over the fact that he was going to be a father. Now, he was marvelling over the fact that he _was_ a father. His child was there. His child was a real and tangible person that he could reach out and hold and feel. That thought in itself simply blew his mind.

But all of it was too real to deny. There was his Sakura-chan sitting in front of him, just staring at their child with pink locks stuck to her face from sweat and dark circles under her exhausted eyes. She was definitely not as cleaned up as she usually was, but she was still his gorgeous Sakura-chan. He loved her no matter what state she was in, and even more now because she was the mother of his child.

"Yes, Naruto. He's part me and part you," she assured him quietly, rocking the bundle gently back and forth against her body. "Do you want to hold him?"

"M-me?" Naruto asked in surprise, pointing at himself.

Despite how clearly fatigued she was, Sakura still managed to roll her eyes. " _Yes_ , you. I don't see anyone else in the room."

He swallowed nervously, nodding before he leaned forward with his arms outstretched to take the baby from her. His wife was already the perfect mother, the way she handled her child with such love and care even in just handing him to someone else. Naruto wondered if she had learned that from somewhere, but then again, she'd always had such healing hands, even if those hands could be equally as destructive.

"He's small, but he's not as fragile as you think," she stated as she placed the baby in his arms. "He can't be. After all, _you're_ his father."

"If that's true and he has a temper like yours, we're all doomed," he chuckled, drawing the little baby against his chest. His child was warm against him, but he felt a warmth within that he could only blame on being a giant sap. Within just a couple of hours, this kid had already turned him into a pile of mush. Naruto smiled, and then his smile grew into a grin. He wanted to pause this moment and live in it forever.

There was a knock on the door followed by the current Hokage's head peeking through the door. "Is it alright if we come in now?" he asked, his eyes just as excited as Sakura's parents had been when they'd come in for a few minutes earlier.

"Yes! Come in!" the new mother called.

Naruto shifted with a wide grin to face his former teacher and best friend, his son in his arms. Kakashi and Sasuke came through the door quietly, bearing several gifts that appeared to be from their other friends. Immediately after setting everything down, Kakashi sat down next to him to observe the baby. Sasuke, however, settled against the wall. Naruto looked at him curiously. His hand was bandaged loosely now and appeared to be healed as he said he'd allow after the birth. He watched his friend, not wanting him to stay so far away.

"You're okay?" Sasuke asked Sakura, showing almost purposeful disinterest in the child.

Sakura smiled tiredly. "I'm fine."

"Good."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto carefully passed the baby to Kakashi and stalked over to where Sasuke was skittishly standing. He crossed his arms, glaring. "Alright, why won't you go near my son?"

"He's a baby," the Uchiha stated rather weakly.

Naruto examined him for a moment. Sasuke was obviously uncomfortable about the idea of being around a baby, but his reluctance to even move closer to where the baby _was_ felt a bit deeper than just some discomfort. The man had fulfilled his sentence entirely and was back on active duty, but was still rarely sent out of the village without Naruto just because of the other villages' dislike for him. Sasuke spent most of his time with Team 7, Karin and Jūgo, and at the orphanage that had been established at the location of the old Uchiha compound. Actually, now that Naruto thought about it, for all the time he spent there, Sasuke didn't ever go near _those_ kids either. He more just kind of...supervised.

A thought came to Naruto. "You know, you're not going to hurt him if you get too close," he told Sasuke. "Is that what you're afraid of?"

Sasuke snickered, as if the thought was stupid, then glanced off in another direction. "Kids are impressionable."

Impressionable...like brothers, or sisters or moms or dads or whomever else a child looked up to. Naruto understood in that moment. It could be easy to change a person, but it could also be hard; that type of thing depended on a lot of different factors. For Sasuke, change had been the hardest thing because he had been so engulfed in his own beliefs that he hadn't had any faith that a different way could be better. He didn't want to go near this child when there was a possibility that he could ever do something that would make the child just like he had been back then.

"Yeah, they're impressionable. Kids have to learn. My _son_ is going to learn, but he's gonna learn good things from you, Sasuke," Naruto replied confidently.

The brooding male eyed him skeptically, but remained silent. Naruto sighed.

"Look, I wasn't gonna say anything until later with Sakura-chan, but we talked about it a while ago and we want you to be his godfather," Naruto told him, grinning while Sasuke's eyes widened.

"...What?"

"Jiraiya was my godfather," he continued, smiling fondly at the memory of his former teacher. He liked to think that his parents along with Ero-sennin were in the room with them right now. "And he was the closest thing I ever had to a father. Now, I don't plan on dying anytime soon, but I know this kid's godfather is going to play an important part in his life, just like mine did."

"Then why choose me?" Sasuke demanded, as if asking Naruto to remember all the pain he'd caused and bad decisions he'd made all those years ago.

"Because I trusted you'd be the person I always thought you'd become," he answered without hesitation. "Because you _are_ the person I always thought you'd become."

He knew he was getting through when Sasuke's stoic expression faltered for just a split second. "And Sakura's okay with this?"

Naruto shrugged, giving his best friend a pat on the back. "Sakura-chan's got a big capacity for forgiveness." He gripped the man's shoulder in reassurance. "Listen, it's not like we expect anything from you. You've just always been a big part of our lives and we want you to be a presence in our son's life too."

The Uchiha sighed, but didn't look perturbed in the least. "Your kid is going to be an even bigger pain in the ass than you, isn't he."

"So you'll do it?" Naruto asked eagerly as he jumped on the positive—well, positive from _his_ perspective—insinuation.

"Yeah. I guess."

Naruto did a fist pump, grinning. He knew he'd convince Sasuke in some way. He turned slightly, giving his surrogate brother a push towards the bed. "Great! Now go hold your godson!"

Surprisingly, Sasuke didn't put up a fight as Kakashi placed the baby carefully into the only good arm he had left. Instead, he watched the child with amusement, trying to remain nonchalant in the presence of this tiny miracle. Naruto smiled and glanced at his wife pointedly, who offered her own smile in return. It was obvious that she understood that Sasuke had accepted his position in their child's life. Today was turning out to be a wonderful day.

"Isn't it funny?" Kakashi asked wistfully. "After all these years, it's finally Sakura that's lying in the hospital instead of one of us." He was referring to the male counterparts of Team 7, who were often the ones who ended up confined to a hospital bed for several days.

"That's because if I'm the one in the hospital bed, it usually means that everyone else is dead," Sakura shot back dryly, effectively draining the humour out of Kakashi's joke. Clearly she had zero tolerance for those kinds of statements in her post-childbirth fatigue, which was understandable. "Honestly, you boys are hopeless without me."

Naruto scratched his head nervously. "Come on, Sakura-chan. We're just joking around."

He received a glare from his tired wife that shut him up immediately. "Joking around? Really? The two of you were alone for a few hours once and you blew off each other's arms," she stated pointedly.

Nobody could refute that statement.

"I just meant to say that it's interesting how everything turned out," Kakashi continued, trying to defuse the situation. "I knew something like this would eventually happen, but just think about it. The war was only seven years ago."

It was true, and such an odd thing to think about. Seven years ago, they could have still been considered children. Sasuke had still been a missing-nin then. It was the year that Neji, along with thousands of other shinobi, fell on the battlefield. It had been a heartbreaking time.

And yet, here they were, a bunch of adults running the village. A lot had changed.

"Maybe this is a little overdue..." Kakashi said as he placed his hands on Naruto and Sasuke's head, "...but I'm proud of all of you."

"We're not kids anymore," Sakura laughed as Sasuke tried to get his head out of the way, but Kakashi was determined to muss the boys' hair.

"No, you're not, but let me feel like I'm still your teacher one last time." He let out a sigh, seemingly full of nostalgia, and moved to stroke the head of the baby instead. "And this little guy, he'll probably surpass all of us one day. The next generation has a tendency to surpass the previous one. You all certainly did."

"That's right! My son's gonna be the next Hokage!" Naruto declared, puffing up his chest in pride.

" _You're_ supposed to be the next Hokage, and look how that turned out. Your own son came to try and prevent that from happening," the Uchiha snickered as he passed the child back to his mother, eliciting a glare from the new father.

"You know, we still don't know what to call this little one. What's his name?" Kakashi asked, and the room fell into a dead silence.

Naruto shifted nervously under the scrutinizing glare of his wife. The whole name thing had been an issue between them for a while now and they had honestly just never finished their conversation about it. The fact that the baby was now born kind of pressed the matter a little more. He had been busy with the whole becoming Hokage thing and whatnot, and Sakura hadn't been very happy that he hadn't at least settled on a name—or any of the ones she'd chosen, for that matter.

Their former teacher, clearly sensing the change in atmosphere, cleared his throat, pushing a disgruntled-looking Sasuke towards the door. "Right, well, we should get going. I'm sure you're tired, Sakura. We'll let you get some rest. I know you have a lot of visitors that want to come later as well."

An image of Karin busting the door down to loudly announce her status as "aunt" made Naruto mentally groan, even if it was technically true. He could only hope that Sasuke could keep her from coming in for a little while longer. Even if he liked that she was his family, he didn't want to end up getting into some stupid fight with her in the presence of his exhausted wife and newborn child.

The door closed and Sakura immediately shot him an expectant look. "Well? What _is_ his name?"

"I don't know," he sighed as he flopped down on the bed next to her, resting his head on her shoulder. "I'm happy with whatever name you choose."

"Naruto, I _told_ you the name I wanted already and you were not okay with it," she stated in annoyance.

"It's a weird name!" Naruto said defensively.

" _You_ have a weird name!" Sakura retorted, trying to keep her voice low so as to not wake the baby.

"I do not!"

"You sure about that, fishcake?"

"...Okay, okay, my name's kinda weird, but you know why my parents gave me that name," he conceded as he let his head sink back into the pillow. He had never had a problem with his name, despite knowing that it was a little strange, but ever since his mother had told him where it came from, he'd appreciated it a lot more. Since then, it had made him feel closer to both his parents and Ero-sennin even though all of them were gone.

"I know, and maybe that's why you should listen to the reason I chose this name for our son," Sakura reasoned with him, taking his left hand into her right. She leaned over and kissed him chastely, smiling. "I chose it because I want my son to be named after the best person I know: his father."

Naruto turned red at her confession. Although he and Sakura had been married for a few years already, he was still consistently in disbelief that she had somehow managed to fall in love with _him_ , even if he'd spent several years of his life wishing for that to be true. Hearing any sort of flattery from her made him feel like he was a smitten twelve-year-old all over again. To hear her say that she wanted to name the little human being they made after _him_ rendered him completely helpless. "W-well, I guess it's actually a pretty nice name, all things considered..."

She nodded, beaming and so preoccupied with their discussion that she was oblivious to the effect she had on him. "I thought it rolled off the tongue nicely too." Sakura gently weaved her fingers through the wisps of blond hair on their child. "Besides, I think your parents would like that it's inspired by yours."

He smiled against her shoulder, always grateful to have fallen in love with someone who cared just as much about the things that mattered to him. Even though it hadn't been under the best circumstances, he was glad that his father had been able to meet Sakura. It had given her a small connection to his parents that somehow made him feel even closer to her. And even if his mother hadn't had the chance to meet her, Sakura had the same fiery temper and unconditional kindness that his mother did, and Naruto was pretty sure that his Sakura-chan was the type of girl Kushina would've approved of. "My weird, fishcake name?"

"My idiot husband's name," she corrected.

Naruto looked out the window at the blue sky, reminiscing about a photo taken long ago. Kakashi and Sakura had been beaming while a disgruntled Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other. That had been before everything the world threw at them had taken place, back when they hadn't really been a team. He had been plagued with loneliness, craving attention and seeking acknowledgement.

He'd grown a lot since he'd been that lonely boy sitting by himself on the swings, but he hadn't seen himself as that person in a very long time. Eventually, he'd started to think of all those people in the picture as his family—something he never hoped to have as a kid. His parents and godfather were gone, after all, and even now, short of forbidden techniques, there was no ethical way of getting them back.

But Naruto was okay with that, because he knew the only thing they really wished for was for him to be happy. And he _was_ happy, lying here beside his wife and son with countless friends all eager to join them. He was living the life in this world that his parents, Ero-sennin, Neji, and all his other comrades had fought for, and he would cherish every second of it.

"I guess it's decided then," Naruto said with a nod. He believed with all his heart that this child was going to accomplish great things and surpass his parents and grandparents in every way possible. Naruto couldn't wait to see his son take on the world, nor could he wait to be there to help every step of the way. He would be unstoppable with his mom and dad and aunts and uncles and all this love surrounding him. He would never have to feel alone.

He grinned down at his son. "Welcome to our family, Shinachiku."


End file.
